


Inshoku-ten no Dreamland

by WyldstileTH



Category: Hoshi no Kaabii | Kirby: Right Back at Ya!, Kirby (Video Games)
Genre: Abuse, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Anthropomorphic, Drama, Emotional Outbursts, F/M, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Schizophrenia, Self-Harm, Suicide, Verbal Abuse, dark themes warning, resturant - AU, tags contain spoilers beyond this point
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-13
Updated: 2020-12-26
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:01:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 15
Words: 20,049
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25246546
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WyldstileTH/pseuds/WyldstileTH
Summary: Wow, his first job! Kirby can't wait to make new friends out of all his new coworkers!Unfortunately, this will be a lot harder than Kirby intends with a few of his coworkers, and restaurant wars aren't exactly the best time to make friends with the upper management.An AU where it's a restaurant! More details in the first note! Head-canons at the end of every chapter!
Relationships: Kirby (Kirby) & Everyone, Queen Sectonia/Taranza (Kirby)
Comments: 89
Kudos: 54





	1. First Day - Kirby

**Author's Note:**

> An AU of Kirby were Dedede owns a restaurant. There are other restaurants for characters that are evil or from another planet or both.
> 
> The idea came from me starting a job recently and realizing how accurate Superstore actually is with the "workplace sitcom thing" and- What? You don't know what Superstore is? Get out. I don't want to hear it. Go watch it.
> 
> WARNING: Some themes in this story may be considered harmful or hurtful to some readers, reader discretion is advised. You have been warned.
> 
> Edited WARNING: Depictions in this story are exaggerated on purpose, if you are going to leave a comment calling its story inappropriate but not offer how I can fix it in return, it is considered a FLAM HERE and will not be noticed anymore.

Mornings are a wonderful time, a time of sunrises, pancakes, and tea. Fall mornings bring about a crisp air and slight breezes. Winter mornings bring a cold that makes a perfect time to snuggle and drink hot cocoa. Spring mornings bring the tranquil songs sung by birds. Summer mornings were the best, they brought the ability to sleep in for student-

_Beep! Beep! BEEP!_

Kirby groggily opened his eyes, an _alarm_ ? No, no, no, it was _summer_. What did he need to get up for?

Blinking the sleep out of his eyes, Kirby grabbed his phone and looked at the title of the alarm:

_Get ready for work! :D_

Slightly confused, Kirby turned off the alarm and pulled the sheets back over his head. He wanted to _SLEEP!_

Sleep was the most wonderful thing that Kirby could ever think of. It was blissful, it was wonderful! When he heard a knock and his door open, he groaned and turned away.

“Kirby? Kirby are you up?” He heard a soft voice speak. He heard it again as he felt gentle hands lightly shake him, “Kirby, you need to get up or you’ll be late.” The voice was soft but stern. Gentle but strong.

“Hmm? Late? For…” He mumbled, staying half-asleep.

“You’re first day!” The voice cheered.

What? His first day! But-but summer _just_ started!

“Did I sleep through summer again…” Kirby mumbled.

He heard the voice giggle, a pleasant sound that made him smile, “No, it’s your first day of work!”

At the sound of that last word, Kirby immediately sat up and looked into his mom’s face. First day of work? First day of work. First day of work _ever_! He began bouncing up and down on his bed and squealing.

His mom laughed, “Now come on, let’s get you ready so you’re not late!”

* * *

This was it. This. Was. _It._

Kirby was about to walk into his first job. He had an interview with a local, but popular, restaurant a while back and he applied for the job of host. His black shirt and black dress pants were a part of the host/hostess dress code and his mom had bought him black slip-resistant dress shoes the moment they found out he got the job. He hoped that his yellow star hairpin and his pink hair wasn’t in any violation of any dress code, but the moment he stepped inside, he could tell that he would be just fine, many of the employees had an odd color of hair, so no one would think his was dyed.

“Text me when you get off,” His mom bent down and kissed him on the forehead, “I love you honey.”

And with his goodbye, Kirby was left alone. And left not knowing what to do.

Honestly, he was very lucky to be so sociable sometimes. He walked right up to a woman with red hair and a blue bandana and spoke to her, “Hi! I’m Kirby, today is my first day!”

She kind of flinched and turned toward him, her mouth was covered with a white cloth mask, “You are the new host?”

“Yep!” Kirby cheered and pointed a finger at himself, “That’s me! But… uh, how do I clock-in?”

“Oh, of course, let me help you with that!” She hurried over to a computer and put in a number, told him it was his employee number and he needed to remember it, and swiped a card to clock him in, “Once you’re done training, and if you’re not late, you just put in your number and click clock-in.” She looked over at the door and back at Kirby.

She led him over to the hosts’ stand and continued, “My name is Bandana, I’m one of the two managers. The other manager is off today, but I believe you work tomorrow and you will, most likely, see him then. I’ll let him introduce himself. The owner’s name is Dedede.” 

Kirby listened, seeing this as a great challenge; they were adults and he knew he had to make them his friends. He would not fail his challenge!

“Now… uh, the other host doesn’t come in until 10:45…”

“What?!” Kirby was shocked, “You mean I could have slept in for another 45 minutes?!” Kirby hung his head, an extra 45 minutes would have been better than nothing…

“Yeah… I don’t know why we schedule new workers so early…” She turned to the kitchen and said to him just before she left, “You can just sit down if you want, or you could go around and meet some of the other employees!”

* * *

Kirby was _soooo_ bored. His phone couldn’t cure this boredom, only social interaction could.

He stood from his seat and looked around. Wait… was that… it was! One of Kirby’s classmates was just over there cleaning tables.

“Gordo!!!” Kirby yelled his way and the kid, Gordo, looked up, Kirby didn’t notice him out of his normal dark purple hoodie and black backpack with silver spikes. Gordo’s dark skin, dark purple and silver tipped spiky hair, and pointed silvery teeth were very recognizable, however.

“Oh. Uh, sup Kirby?” Gordo was never very close with Kirby, but everyone that went to Kirby's school knew him, even if his class was out for good (Good luck class of 2020!), “You got a job?”

“Yep!” Kirby smiled and looked proud of himself, “I’m a host!”

“Er… good for you.” Gordo looked up when the person behind the sushi counter called him over to help clean up a mess involving spilt rice.

The man behind the sushi counter had blue-green, slightly more blue, with some streaks of yellow in it. He also had openings in his outfit on the sides of his torso and some odd-looking lines that looked like wrinkles in his skin.

Kirby was about to go and help, but a voice from behind him made him turn and scream. 

The person that was standing behind him was just a little shorter than him and had blue hair and a full-face mask with glowing eyes. The person seemed to flinch at Kirby’s scream, but continued in a deep voice accented to draw out vowels, “As I was saying before you interrupted me, who are you?”

Kirby looked into this stranger’s masked eyes and formed a reply in his head, “I-I’m Kirby, today’s my first day!”

“Meta Knight.” The stranger, Meta Knight, said, “I’m sure Bandana told you I would not be here today. I am the other manager, it’s a pleasure, Kirby.”

Kirby smiled, “Why the mask?”

“All employees have to wear a mask because of the virus. Where is your’s?”

“No, I mean, why the full face mask? You just need one for your mouth, don’t you?”

“Correct. You should get a cloth one, but we have regular ones if you need them.”

Meta Knight reached into his cardigan jacket and pulled out a regular face mask for him to use for the day. Kirby thanked him and wandered around trying to meet more people, and it wasn’t until it was 10:40 that he realized Meta Knight had completely avoided his question about the mask. Oh, well.

The door to the restaurant opened and a young-looking man walked in. He had on a black dress shirt with black dress pants and black dress shoes. His hair was a lot like the sushi guy’s hair but white with soft brown colored streaks. His nose was a little pink and he had freckles on his face that were that same soft brown color and his hair streaks.

The host uniform! Kirby ran over to the host stand and introduced himself to the other host, “Hi! I’m Kirby the new host!”

“Say, that’s great! We are in need of new hosts, Bandana ends up helping most of the time.” He extended his hand to Kirby, who shook it gleefully, “The name’s Rick, nice to meet you Kirb!”

Kirby smiled and the two talked. Rick told Kirby about some of the other employees, including Rick’s two roommates, Kine who worked in sushi and Coo who was a server but not working today. Rick also showed Kirby around the restaurant and gave him a little tour and meet-and-greet. Kirby told Rick about how his school was over the year and what he wanted to do to go to college, Rick said he was saving up and his parents wouldn’t pay for it.

“That’s horrible, why won’t your parents pay for your college?” Kirby asked Rick.

“Well,” Rick started, “We aren’t exactly the richest in town and they need the money for themselves, I get how it goes. Mum and pop gotta feed themselves and my little sister.”

Kirby’s mom wasn’t worth much in terms of money, so he could relate to that… but still. It was upsetting to Kirby that Rick’s parents couldn’t help him out.

“Hey don’t get upset, Kirbs.” One of the many tablets at the host stand beeped and a printer printed a paper detailing a to-go order, “Let me show you how to do a to-go order!”

Kirby smiled as his new friend showed him how to put in the order and package it up. He couldn’t be happier about starting his first job and was even more happy that he was making friends. Even if he was completely oblivious to the argument going on in the managers’ office.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here are some facts for the AU that may not ever be stated in the fic:
> 
> All of the restaurants are local unless stated otherwise, they are also located in about the same area, which is a shopping center. The restaurant that Dedede owns is attached to a mall and they also have a way inside the mall, which makes it a desirable location for some of the other restaurants.
> 
> Meta Knight's cardigan jacket IS his wings. It's like his cape, but he usually keeps it in the form of a jacket at anything more than his house. The cardigan also has the same pocket dimension thing. It's a shape-shifting thing, not that anyone knows, of course.
> 
> Meta Knight, Dedede, and Bandana are all nicknames. Dedede's real name is Danny, Bandana's real name is Anne, and no one knows Meta Knight's real name, but they can tell it's not that.
> 
> Kirby's mom (Clara Star) is a counselor. Clara has considered telling Kirby about his father, but doesn't want to hurt Kirby with the information. As far as Kirby knows, is father left his mother before he was born, but that's not the case.
> 
> Dedede and Bandana keep trying to get Meta Knight to relax because sometimes he literally works until he gets sick or collapses. This was even true when they were all in high school together.
> 
> Kirby is 18. Dedede is 23. Meta Knight is 21. Bandana is 20.


	2. Yesterday - Meta Knight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He wasn't supposed to be at work because of yesterday.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look people, I honestly tried to keep it light-hearted, but it got darker and darker the more I wrote this chapter. It was only going to be a small argument and then a self-harm reference, then it slowly became what you will be reading. I’m sorry, I’m also going to keep the rating at T, but if I have many more chapters like this, I will up it to M.
> 
> I promise I'll try to make the next chapter more light-hearted!
> 
> WARNING: This chapter contains a suicide attempt and is overall pretty edgy. Many things in this chapter may cause discomfort in some readers, reader discretion is advised.

“What the heck?!” Bandana said just as she saw Meta Knight in the restaurant, ready to work, “What the h*** are you doing here?!”

“Simple, I’m here to work.” He said in that impassive voice that always seemed to cause Bandana to fume when she was upset about something. “I was supposed to work today.”

“No! You-” She cut herself off as she realized they were still in the kitchen and anyone could hear them. She made a point by grabbing his left arm and pulling him into the managers’ office. She closed and locked the door behind them.

“Why would you, so forcibly, interrupt both of our jobs over me being here?” Meta Knight inquired.

“You know exactly why.” Bandana hissed, “You know Dedede doesn’t want you here today. He wants you to take care of yourself.”

He looked right into her eyes that were at about the same height as his, “I _do_ take care of myself, Bandana. I don’t know why you both worry so much.”

“Your eyes always give your lies away.” Bandana grabbed Meta Knight’s right wrist and forced the sleeve of his jacket up his arm, making him wince, as it revealed a bloodied bandage. “ _This_ is why we worry! Did you even change the bandages after I put them on yesterday?!”

“Bandana.” Meta Knight looked right into her eyes again, “I’m fine, everything is okay. You don’t need to worry, and neither does Dedede.”

She forced him to sit down in the wheeled chair and began unwrapping his bandages to change them, “Again, your lying. You never take care of yourself, which was clear after yesterday if no one already knew.”

Underneath the bandages laid a nasty gash that ran from Meta Knight’s elbow joint to just before his wrist. Bandana noticed it looked like he didn’t clean it before going to bed like she told him to, “Did you clean this?”

“Didn’t need to.”

Bandana slapped her hand to her face, then began looking for the rubbing alcohol to clean the cut, “Meta, you are a wonderful person and a great friend. Both me and Dedede truly love you, and we have since high school.”

“Where is this coming fro-”

He stopped when Bandana turned around, with the rubbing alcohol and a towel in her hands and tears threatening to fall from her eyes, “Please. Meta, please. Both me and Dedede are begging you to take care of yourself.” She breathed in deep, “There are times when I don’t even recognize you, Dedede too… it scares us…” She put the rubbing alcohol on the towel and pressed it to his cut. He hissed when it stung. “I know that you haven’t always gotten the attention you deserve, and that you have suffered so much. It’s why I want to ask you…” She looked up into his eyes, the tears still held in her own eyes, “please see someone about this. I believed that you could get through this yourself like you said, but after yesterday… I don’t anymore… I don’t even trust you to be alone anymore.”

She wrapped up his arm again, a single tear fell onto it as she wrapped it. Meta Knight grabbed her hand with his left one, “I promise, and I’m sorry about yesterday I don’t even know what came over me.”

Bandana looked up at his eyes and hugged him, causing him to hiss in pain again. She didn’t even notice as she hugged him and cried into his shoulder. He sat there awkwardly and let her hug him, no matter how much it hurt. Neither of them knew how much time had passed when Bandana finally stopped crying and stood up to compose herself.

“I… I really am sorry about yesterday…” Meta Knight quietly whispered.

“I know… but I don't really want to talk about it right now. You can stay and work if you want, but I want you to focus on the work in here and on the computer…” Bandana unlocked the door and stepped outside, “Please try to relax in here, don’t make it like yesterday…”

With that, she left. And Meta Knight was left alone with his thoughts. How unsettling. It was disappointing that yesterday was the only thing Meta Knight could think about, wasn’t it?

_Yes, it is… it’s pathetic._ Meta Knight heard a voice like Dedede’s whisper into his pointed ears, which he quickly covered. He didn’t want to hear it. He didn’t want to hear anything. Especially not what brought on his “episode” yesterday.

_But you should want to hear us,_ this one sounded like Bandana, _we are the only ones that will tell you the truth, and we’re the only ones that will listen to you._

“Please stop…”

_Stop complaining,_ the voice of Dedede retorted, _and finish what you started yesterday… we’ll go away if you can go through with it._

_You want me happy, don’t you?_ The voice of Bandana asked with a dark tone, _I’ll finally be happy for you and I’ll believe in you again. Remember when she said she stopped believing in you because you didn’t go through with it?_

“I… Bandana just… that’s not what she meant!” Meta Knight slammed his right fist on the desk and pain shot up his arm. He grabbed his arm.

_See? Look how weak you ar-_

“Sir?” Blade opened the door and saw his roommate holding his arm and he instantly stopped, he was there yesterday, “A-are you okay?”

“Yes Blade, I’m fine… you can go back to cooking…”

“Do you want me to get Bandana, or…”

“Or.”

“Er… yes sir.” Blade left and continued with his cooking.

_You even drove him away. Wow how debilitated of you._

“Shut up.” Meta Knight hissed through his teeth and turned toward the computer to look over the financial goals and placement of the restaurant. But he just couldn’t stop thinking about what he did yesterday…

* * *

He pointed the sharp knife at his own chest, determined to make the voices stop. They said it was the only way. They promised they would go away. He just needed to go through with it. To prove that he was strong.

Meta Knight took a deep breath. He was hesitating. Why was he hesitating?! He was trying to prove he was strong. He was still only showing weakness!

The knife edged closer to his chest, what if it wasn’t sharp enough? Maybe he should get Galaxia first and then go through with it…

_No. Do it now, pet…_ He heard the voice of his father growl. _Do it now and prove your strength._

The knife moved closer and closer to his chest. Just as he was about to force it into his heart, two large hands belonging to someone standing behind him began trying to free the knife from his grip.

Meta Knight heard the person behind him say, “Meta, stop! Bandana, help!”

Meta Knight gasped for breath as he fought the strength of these two large hands and kept his hands tight around the knife. He growled as he plunged the knife towards his chest, but the hands redirected it into the underside of his arm and caused a large gash.

Someone ran to face him directly and said something that he didn’t hear. Then they started helping the person behind him with getting the knife out of his grip.

“Meta, please let go of the knife!” The person in front of him pleaded and he only hissed in response.

With two other people fighting for the knife in his hands, he stood no chance. They eventually got the knife away from him and the person behind him got him pressed into the ground while the other person wrapped his arm in bandages.

Meta Knight kept trying to attack the person that was now on top of him, but his mask prevented him biting them, his hands were held behind his back even if his gloves were off, and his legs were also being held down. He kept fighting, trying to prove how strong he was, but he was starting to feel faint. His vision was beginning to blur and it was difficult to keep his eyes open or move at all.

He kept fighting the people he didn’t recognize until his vision went black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Blade is a transgender man, but no one knows he is really a girl.
> 
> More of those nice facts for you:
> 
> The relationship between Dedede, Bandana, and Meta Knight is actually fairly toxic. Both Dedede and Bandana witnessed him attempt suicide, but they love and believe in him so much that they don’t do much of anything about it afterward.
> 
> This chapter describes Meta Knight as having schizophrenia, but not even he realizes that he has been living with schizophrenia for years, therefore it has gone untreated and his psychotic episodes are bad enough that they are to the point where he doesn’t even recognize the people close to him and only sees them as a “person.”
> 
> Bandana actually knew that Meta Knight cut himself and that he’s been doing it since he was a Third Year in high school at least. She found out when she accidentally walked into the boy’s bathroom during her first and found him cutting his arm.
> 
> Meta Knight also skipped a year of high school, so when he was a Third Year it was only his second year there, it was Bandana’s first, and it was Dedede’s fourth and last year.
> 
> Dedede has only witnessed Meta’s self-harming when he found his about to commit suicide. Dedede also feels responsible for getting Meta Knight’s arm cut because he was the one that redirected the knife.


	3. Let's Not Talk About it - Dedede

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dedede comes into his restaurant and-gosh darn it! Why is Meta Knight here?!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you're desperate, go ahead and look at this chapter as MetaDedede, but do know that it is written with a friendship in mind.
> 
> I also made jokes in this chapter and the half-way point is about where everything gets more light-hearted. And the ending's great, even if I feel like this chapter might be a little short...
> 
> I realized that the title doesn't translate right and I'll tell you here that it's Japanese pronunciation for Restaurant of Dreamland and that is also the name of the restaurant. However, might I recommend putting Inshoku-ten into Google Translate by itself? It's hilarious!

Dedede looked up at his restaurant, Dreamland, and gained a feeling of happiness. He always dreamed of owning a business, and what a more fitting name for his dream than Dreamland?

Walking in, he noticed that kid with the pink hair that he interviewed for a host position. Luckily, the kid seemed to be catching on quickly. Good, the restaurant needed more hosts, “Heya, Rick! How’s it going with teaching the trainee?”

The kid and Rick looked up from the computer used to put to-go and take-out orders in, “Hey, Dedede, yeah it’s going great! Kirby here is a fast learner!”

Kirby recognized this as the man that interviewed him and as the owner of the restaurant, “Hello, Sir!”

“Come on, kid. There ain’t no need for that; just call me Dedede.” Dedede smiled, “Do either of you know where Bandana is?”

“Yeah, she’s in the kitchen.” Rick pointed over to the kitchen and Dedede was about to head over there when Rick continued, “Meta Knight’s here too, if you need him.”

Dedede flinched and his stomach felt queasy, “Right… Meta Knight… were ya here yesterday Rick?”

“No, why?”

“No reason, I’ll come check on you two later, see ya kid.”

Dedede walked away and swallowed thickly at the thought of confronting Meta Knight. He had told Meta Knight to not come in today, but he still showed up… and after yesterday too…

He shook those thoughts out of his head, there was no reason for him to be upset or feel bad. But he did…. Ah, there’s Bandana!

“Yo, Bandee!” Dedede waved at Bandana, who was explaining something to Gordo. It would be best if Dedede just ignored yesterday, right?

“Oh, Sir!” Bandana called happily and hugged him, “I’m  _ so  _ happy you’re here!” She paused and stopped hugging him, “Uh… Meta Knight is in the office… if you want to go see him…”

There was a silence that was broken by Gordo, “Right, so this is weird… I’ll wait at the terminal to be clocked out.”

After Gordo left, the two sat in silence and just kind of watched the ground. Dedede looked up at Bandana, who was still watching the floor like it was playing an interesting movie. He couldn’t tell what was going through her head, but he figured that it would be best to not talk about it.

“Have you talked to him?” Dedede asked carefully.

“Yes, he said he would find someone to help him.” Bandana finally looked up at Dedede.

“Er… good.” Dedede paused, “I’ll go talk to him, see how he is, ya know?”

“Yes, Sir… I need to go clock out Gordo.” And she walked off, leaving Dedede alone to go talk to Meta Knight. He was very anxious about that.

Upon reaching the door, he heard Meta Knight’s voice inside, like he was talking to someone. He opened the door suddenly, causing Meta Knight to jump and fall out of the chair. Meta Knight hissed in pain when he landed on his right arm. Dedede shut the door and apologized.

“No, no, Dedede, it’s fine.” Meta Knight said as he tried pushing himself up with his right arm, but fell back down when pain exploded up his arm. Dedede helped him stand back up.

“So… how’re you doing today?” Dedede asked awkwardly.

Meta Knight shrugged, “Fine.”

There was a pause that was interrupted by Dedede suddenly slapping the side of Meta Knight’s head, “I’m coming at you as a friend right now, Meta.” Dedede slapped Meta Knight again, “Don’t you  _ ever _ pull a stunt like that  _ again _ , ya hear?!”

“Y-yes, Sir.”

“You had me and Bandana scared half to death! You better actually find yourself a doctor of some sort like you promised Bandana too!”

“Yes, Sir!” Meta Knight responded as he rubbed the sides of his head where Dedede had smacked him.

“Glad we came to an understanding!” Dedede said as he went back to smiling, “Wha’cha workin’ on?”

Meta Knight settled back into the office chair and Dedede hung over the back of it and put his hands on Meta Knight’s shoulders, “Budgets.”

“Boring! Win any games of Solitaire today?” Dedede grinned.

Meta Knight frowned under his mask, “I work when I’m at work.”

“Then who downloaded Solitaire on this computer if it wasn’t me or Bandana?” Dedede asked slyly.

“...”

“Come on, I don’t care.” Dedede laughed, “Why I’d be playing either Cool Math or Cookie Clicker if I had to stare at a screen full of numbers all day!”

“I won three out of five games today.” Meta Knight blushed under his mask when Dedede complimented him on being so smart.

“Anyways, you continue being you in here,” Dedede said as he took his hands off Meta Knight’s shoulders and turned towards the door, “I’m letting Bandana know she can go home if she wants, you can head out with her. Go do something  _ fun _ together! If you don’t go with her, I’ll take you home with  _ me _ and we can do something  _ fun _ together!”

“What if I don’t want to go…”

“Gosh darn it, Meta.” Dedede facepalmed, “We’ve been over this, having fun is good for you!”

“You didn’t let me finish.”

“Right, finish.”

“What if I don’t want to go with you,” Meta Knight paused for dramatic affect, “but I want both of you to go with  _ me _ ?”

Dedede laughed, yes! Finally! “Of course we’ll go with you! As long as you make the plans.”

Meta Knight turned the chair to face Dedede and his eyes were glowing a bright blue, “Sunday then. The restaurant is closed and we can go to your place because-“

“Because I got wine!”

“No, because-“

“Because I got wine, movies, and popcorn!”

“No! Because you live alone!”

“Oh… yeah… because I got wine, movies, popcorn, and I live alone! Great idea!”

“No-I…” but Dedede was leaving to tell Bandana about the plans, and Dedede heard him let out a muffled scream and laughed as he left Meta Knight to himself.

Dang, Sunday was going to be great. What good plans Meta Knight made.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It’s time for fact-things-that-I-think-are-probably-called-head-canons:
> 
> Meta Knight wasn’t even aware that his eyes changed color until Bandana and Dedede asked him what the colors meant. He still can’t tell when his eyes change color, but he does know what the colors mean.
> 
> Dedede and Bandana have gathered a list of all the colors of Meta Knight’s eyes in a Google Document that they share and list what they believe are the moods associated with the colors. So far they have: 
> 
> *light blue is happy, the lighter the blue, the happier he is,
> 
> *dark blue is sad, the darker the blue, the sadder he is, 
> 
> *red is anger, or if it is glowing with a certain shine, then he has evil intentions and he’s not trying to hide them, 
> 
> *his eyes dim when he is tired or in physical pain, although emotional pain also makes him seem tired,
> 
> *they flash a bright white when he is scared from a jump, but the color will stay white if he is truly terrified, the flash is sometimes followed by orange,
> 
> *orange means surprise and sometimes follows a flash of white,
> 
> *dark green means he is very serious about something that others might object to,
> 
> *light green means that he is lost in his thoughts and he is kind of just staring off into space,
> 
> *and pink is amusement, Dedede and Bandana’s favorite, they love to hear him laugh.
> 
> Something else about Meta Knight’s eyes is that, yes, they are silver under his mask and a tint makes them look like they are yellow because they glow. He is also blind, but when Dedede and Bandana ask him about it he either changes the subject, tells a different story than last time, or just straight-up says he doesn’t remember if there was an accident or if he was born blind. 
> 
> His mask has a special, enchanted lens that lets him see when he is wearing it. The enchantment is also what gives the tint that only seems to affect his eyes when they are normal.
> 
> He also has glasses in his night stand with the same enchantment, but he never wears them or takes them with him. He claims he’ll never need to use them because his mask will never break, yeah, I’m sure that won’t backfire. *insert an eye roll here*
> 
> Dedede is the one that normally makes plans. Bandana only makes plans every-so-often when there is an occasion of sorts. Meta Knight has never made plans before, this would be the first time "he" made the plans.


	4. Good Plans - Bandana

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bandana learns what Kirby's mom works as and formulates a plan to help a friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't exactly feel like the beginning of this chapter flows smoothly enough, but it seemed to fix itself after Taranza showed up, so eh.

After she clocked out Gordo, she went to see how the new host was doing and if he wanted to clock out, it was very slow, after all. For a second, her mind drifted to the events of yesterday and Meta Knight’s promise to her that he would find someone to help him. She couldn’t get it out of her head that he had seemed so… _off_ as of late. It was probably nothing, and she was probably just overthinking something simple, after all, she knew Meta Knight was a good person and she wanted to believe in him. His promise was only another excuse for her to make.

Bandana pushed those thoughts out of her head once she reached the host’s stand, “It was Kirby, right?”

“Yep! That’s me!” Kirby smiled brightly at her, his face was very child-like and happy. It always made Bandana smile because Kirby looked a lot like Meta Knight… it made Bandana think of the one time she saw his smile, his _happy_ smile. Not the one that scares her, the _happy_ one.

“Hey, how’s it going, Bandana?” Rick greeted her.

She smiled, “Good. Kirby, it’s slow so if you’d like to leave you can.”

“Sure! Just let me text my mom that she can pick me up.” Kirby pulled out his phone and tapped at it, “Dang it, she’s with a client right now. Oh well, guess I can hang out in the mall!”

“Client?” Bandana wondered aloud, “What does your mom do, Kirby?”

Kirby smiled brightly and tapped at his phone a few more times. After a second or two, he turned the phone to Rick and Bandana and it showed a picture of a woman with pastel pink hair, blue eyes, happy features, and short stature. It was obviously Kirby’s mom, “My mom is a counselor! She is _super_ good at it! She tells me that it’s just a matter of listening and being observant!”

“Wow!” Rick blurted, “You look a _lot_ like your mom!”

Bandana got an idea and smiled, “A counselor? Like a person that helps people with… talking?” She didn’t want to say any of the words that a counselor would help with. That would hurt too much.

Kirby brightened more, if that was even possible, “Yeah! Sometimes she does meetings with her clients at our house, they’re all really nice.”

Bandana’s face fell as she remembered the price that normally came with counselors, and she didn’t think it would be affordable, “Is she really expensive?” 

“She told me that because she doesn’t work for a large corporation she has to keep her prices lower than most to bring in customers.” Kirby shrugged, he didn’t seem to know the large numbers that were on the bills from trips to a counselor or therapist.

Maybe Bandana could befriend Kirby and Meta Knight could have Kirby’s mom as his counselor, “You know, Kirby this is great. How about I can take you to get some late lunch with my friend and I can drive you home when your mom is finished? I’d like to talk to her.” Bandana was sure to smile and the smile was real.

“Ohhh, lunch with the manager!” Rick called out then laughed lightly, “I’ll see you later, Kirb, I’m gonna go get this to-go order ready.” Rick waved as he left.

Kirby looked back up at Bandana, “Wow, you’re offering to take me to lunch?” Bandana was about to reply when Kirby called out, “Yes! Yes! Yes! I’d love to! This is gonna be great!”

Bandana smiled at Kirby’s enthusiasm and left to go get Meta Knight. Dedede had already told her that she was free to clock out and take Meta Knight with her if she wanted, and she was determined to get him to come with her, even if that meant she wouldn’t tell him where they were going.

“Okay, fine,” Meta Knight grumbled when she came in, “I’ll go with you. Let me change first.”

Bandana watched as Meta Knight’s cardigan seemed to fluff itself up and move on its own accord. Once the cardigan finished moving, it was no longer a cardigan, but rather a jacket with a thick-looking hood. Meta Knight put the hood over his head and Bandana knew he was finished.

* * *

They all got into Meta Knight’s car because Bandana’s was unavailable that day and she took an Uber to work. Bandana had insisted that she drive and was in the driver’s seat, Meta Knight sat in the passenger’s seat, and Kirby was in the back.

“Bandana, do you mind telling me where we are going if you are going to drag me away from work?” Meta Knight asked.

“Simple, lunch.” Bandana smiled beneath the cloth mask she was still wearing, “Then we are taking Kirby home.”

“I don’t like the way you said that…” Meta Knight mumbled, “and really? Lunch?”

“Oh hush,” Bandana rolled her eyes, “Just take the mask off for once in your life. Will it really kill you?”

“Yes…” Meta Knight growled.

“Can you at least eat something there?” Bandana asked quietly, “I’ll buy?”

“... Fine.” Meta Knight mumbled, then started fidgeting with the strings that would make his hood tighter.

“You two are really cute together!”

Both Bandana and Meta Knight looked back at the smiling Kirby. Bandana looked back at the road, but Meta Knight kept staring at Kirby.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Meta Knight’s eyes fade to a light green as he stared at Kirby. She turned back quickly to see that Kirby definitely looked a bit unsettled. She tapped Meta Knight’s arm to get his attention and he snapped back to reality, mumbled something about touching, hugs, and kissing—uh, okay?—and looked back out the front window. No one said anything for the rest of the ride.

* * *

The three of them sat at a table away from any windows waiting for their food in the Florian Floral Cafè. The entire cafè had flowers, whether they were real, fake, painted, potted, hanging, and any other way you could think of a flower. The cafè itself was a floral shop, bakery, and cafè all combined into one. It was a very relaxing place.

A man of average height and dark skin came over with their food. He wore a green shirt embroidered with golden spider webs climbing his sides and a purple and pink flower in the center. His pants were white jeans with gold rings around his ankles and two dashed lines on both sides going up his legs. He wore white gloves with more lines of gold along the bottom and gold also tipping his thumbs. His hair was white with very few, very light, brown streaks and came to a stop just above his jaw. He had two sets of eyes, one set was brown and the other set was yellow. Horns topped his head, two sharp fangs covered his bottom lip, and four extra hands floated around him that were made of magic, each with the same white gloves on.

“Taranza!” Bandana gleefully cheered, “I didn’t think you’d still be here!”

Taranza opened his mouth and laughed, revealing that he also had much smaller bottom fangs, “I was heading out, but saw you and thought I should enjoy _Linner_ with you.”

Meta Knight moved over so that Taranza could sit in the booth with him, “That doesn’t have as good a ring as Brunch.” He pointed out.

“How about _Dunch_? No… that sounds _worse_!” Taranza laughed then turned to Kirby, “Hello, I’m Taranza, co-owner of Floria Floral Cafè.”

Kirby smiled brightly and Bandana wondered if the opportunity of new friends just made him generally happy, “I’m Kirby! Wow, you have so many hands!”

Taranza laughed, “It’s a pleasure, Kirby. I know, it _definitely_ makes the dishes easier!”

Kirby laughed with him, “Do all restaurants know each other?”

“No.” Meta Knight answered, “We buy flowers from Taranza for the Spring Flower Festival every year to decorate and sell them.”

Taranza smiled at Kirby, “Lots of hands makes arranging flowers easier too.” He turned to Meta Knight next to him, “Are you going to actually _eat_ the food I brought you?”

“At home.” Meta Knight grumbled.

“Don’t worry, Taranza,” Bandana said, making Taranza turn towards her, “it’s macaroni and cheese, he’ll eat it.”

Meta Knight growled at Bandana’s statement, but she made no acknowledgment of it and continued, “So how is Sectonia?”

Taranza smiled at the mention of his girlfriend, “Great! She’ll be especially happy when I “pop the question,” right?”

Bandana let out a small squeal, “You’re going to propose?!”

“Yep!” Taranza smiled, “I’ve got the ring and everything! When she says “yes” I plan to find her the most beautiful mirror on the entire planet so I can show her the prettiest woman in the world!”

Bandana and Kirby began saying how romantic it was and Meta Knight just rolled his eyes and poked his food with his fork.

“Has anything new happened lately?” Taranza asked, “Anything interesting happen recently?”

Meta Knight just stayed quiet, but Bandana’s face fell and she stared at her food as she whispered, “No… not really…”

They continued a discussion about how Taranza and Sectonia’s wedding would be extravagant and they should do a flower theme. Taranza finally decided that it should be called “Late Lunch” because it sounded the best, which made Bandana happy because she had said that earlier.

At one point Taranza called Meta Knight and Bandana “cute together” after they began to bicker about how it was rude for Meta Knight to say anything about the sharpness of Taranza’s horns even if he didn’t take any offense. They stopped arguing after that.

After they finished eating, or just packed up their food in Meta Knight’s case, all of them headed out. Bandana, Meta Knight, and Kirby all got in Meta Knight’s car and Kirby put in the address for his house.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fact thingies time:
> 
> I wanted to write down everyone’s heights before I forgot them, so here you are:
> 
> *Bandana is a pretty average height at 5’6’’ ft (167.64 cm),
> 
> *Kirby is 5’5’’ ft (165.1 cm),
> 
> *Dedede is extremely tall at 6’8’’ ft (203.2 cm),
> 
> *and poor Meta Knight is only 5’3’’ ft (160.02 cm) although he is almost always wearing heeled shoes that make him seem just a little bit taller.
> 
> Taranza has two real hands attached to his body and four that float around him and are made of magic. Sectonia also has these extra hands, but she doesn’t summon them unless she really needs them, Taranza likes the look of the extra hands.
> 
> Bandana’s car was put out-of-service when her dad and little brother were cleaning out the garage and they accidentally shattered a window.
> 
> Meta Knight’s favorite food is anything sweet, mainly chocolate, or macaroni and cheese. No one ever really sees him eat anything but those.
> 
> The Floria Floral Cafè is inspired by Panera, which is a cafè and bakery combined, and they have the best shells with white cheddar macaroni and cheese! The cafè is also a floral shop.
> 
> Taranza typically takes care of the floral part and Sectonia takes care of the food and restaurant part.
> 
> Taranza’s species is a Spydir and Sectonia is half Spydir and half Miroar (the mirror worlder’s species).
> 
> While we are on species, the “humans” of this world are Waddle Dees. Dedede is a Pengu and most likely part Gigant to explain why he is so tall. Kirby is a Puffball. Meta Knight is… I can really only tell you that he is part Puffball right now.
> 
> IMPORTANT NOTE: I am going to redo some parts of the earlier chapters to make Kirby 18 so that it makes more sense for him to be friends with the others and I think it would just make the story flow a little better.


	5. Plans in Action - Bandana

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bandana meets Kirby's mom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, have I been busy! *She says while binging Salad Fingers, Game, Film, and Food Theory*
> 
> But seriously though, I don't have much place in my life for writing anymore because I am no longer confined to Ubers and can get to work right before my shift starts... but that's just a theory... A GAME THEORY! Thanks for reading!
> 
> 100 hits!

Bandana locked Meta Knight’s car and followed Kirby up to his house’s door. It was a nice house, not a very large house, but not too small either. It was located in a nice neighborhood too.

Kirby pulled out a keychain and stuck a key in the door and turned it. He opened it and walked inside, beckoning the others after him.

“I’m going to wait in my car, if you don’t mind.” Meta Knight turned towards his car.

Bandana made a show of jangling the keys and walking in the house after Kirby. Meta Knight swore under his breath and followed her in.

Kirby’s living room was quite nice, complete with a flat-screen TV, a couch, a chair, a dark coffee table, a patterned rug, and a bookcase filled with books. Bandana knew that Meta Knight was probably staring at the bookcase like it was a winning lottery ticket.

“I hope we’re not intruding, Kirby.” Bandana said sheepishly, “Your mom  _ is _ done, right?”

“Yep!” Kirby turned and ran towards what must have been the kitchen, “Mama, I’m home!”

Kirby’s mom walked out of the kitchen, and she was an overall adorable creature. She must have been mostly puffball, a species known for being adorable, happy, and honestly hard to take seriously sometimes. Bandana smiled under her mask at her reaction to when she had first seen Meta Knight’s face.

She wore a white T-shirt with a band on it that she probably went to see on stage in her teens and some purple yoga pants. Her pink hair was tied into a messy bun, and she overall looked like she was ready for bed. Minus the fact that she was clearly about to eat the sandwich she was holding.

“Oh, hello honey!” She kissed Kirby on the forehead, “I was wondering what you meant when you said that you got a ride.” She turned to Bandana and Meta Knight, “Hello, I’m Clara, Kirby’s mom. He told me that you are very nice people and I’m glad he can have some friends a little older than him, just in case he needs some help with something you’d need experience for. He’s great friends with the neighborhood kids, but… y’ know, they’re a little young for him.” She shrugged and pet Kirby’s head. Again, Bandana was reminded of Meta Knight, who also liked to be pet, even if he would never say it.

“It’s nice to meet you, Clara. I’m Bandana and this is... ” Bandana said. Meta Knight just stood there. Rude. Bandana sighed, “... Meta Knight.”

“Oh, I’m glad.” She sat down on the couch and gestured for them all to sit. Kirby sat on the couch next to his mom, Bandana took up one of the chairs, and Meta Knight kept standing, but moved right next to the chair Bandana was in.

Clara smiled and continued, “Not many people take me or my son seriously with us being Puffballs.” She shrugged again, “But I guess that makes it easier to find the right people sometimes!”

Meta Knight whispered that he doesn’t like Puffballs and Bandana elbowed him in the side, “Yeah, I have to agree with that. It’s hard to find  _ decent  _ people.”

Meta Knight looked down at her, “Are you calling me  _ in _ decent?”

“So what if I am, Mr. Rude?”

Meta Knight growled and sat down on the arm of the chair Bandana sat in.

“Well aren’t you two just adorable together?” Clara said with a large smile. An awkward silence followed as Bandana and Meta Knight looked away from each other and at the floor.

After a couple seconds, Bandana cleared her throat, “So, Clara, Kirby told me you’re a… uh… counselor?”

Meta Knight flinched and looked up, his pointy ears flicking up.

Clara noticed Meta Knight’s reaction, “Er… yes, I am. Why? Did you need one?”

“Well,  _ I  _ don’t…  _ he  _ does.” Bandana flicked her head towards Meta Knight. Meta Knight’s hands balled into fists and he tensed up, Bandana knew he was upset but she still continued, “Uh… he just… has some…”

Bandana didn’t want to say it. She didn’t need to say it. If she said it, it would be real. It would become her reality. … She didn’t want that. She wanted Her, Dedede, and Meta Knight to all be happy together. She wanted Meta Knight to be happy again, for real.

“Anxiety?” Clara supplied rather carelessly.

Bandana laughed nervously, “I guess that’s part of it…” Meta Knight mumbled something next to her.

“I see…” Clara said as her brow furrowed, she seemed to get most of it, “Well, when should we have our meetings, Meta Knight it was?”

“Yes.” He grumbled. “The restaurant isn’t open on Sundays, so-”

Bandana cut him off, “Which is why it won’t be on Sundays!”

“But I could go into work every other day and-”

“And Sunday is when we hang out and relax together!”

“-what if you or Dedede needs help?”

“We can figure it out without you!”

“But I-”

“But you  _ need _ to relax and stop over-working yourself!”

Clara and Kirby kept looking back-and-forth to Meta Knight and to Bandana as they bickered. Clara made the same mistake that Kirby and Taranza both already made that day and said with a smile, “Well, aren’t the two of you cute?”

Bandana stopped and she felt her face warm underneath her mask, but that last comment pushed him over the edge and he began yelling angrily in his native tongue, Demon Best  _ (Japanese) _ , “ _ Cute?! Everyone needs to stop saying that!! I am anything  _ but _ cute! You are all nothing but incompetent fools that deserve to stabbed through your hearts and fed to your families! I am  _ perfect _ and I am FINE! None of you are in any way in the right! WRONG! YOU ARE ALL WRONG!!!! _ ” He turned to Bandana and his eyes were a fiery shade of crimson, “ _ I don’t feel like dealing with any of the s*** going on in my head with a bunch of bloody, f***ing IDIOTS! _ ”

And with that, he stormed out the front door and slammed it. Bandana looked back at Kirby and Clara, who both had shock painted on their face, “Erm… sorry about him. He’s been… off? Sorry if his eyes scared you too…”

Clara blinked and, with the shock still evident on her face, said, “It-it’s fine. I’ve seen bioluminescent eyes before…. Does this happen often? Him blowing up?”

Bandana shyly held her arm and rubbed it, “It used to happen a lot when me and Dedede first met him, then he got a lot better… but recently? He’s been losing control more and more…”

“Thursday at 1 pm good?”

Bandana smiled, “Yes, I’ll let him know and make sure he shows up!”

Clara nodded, “Usually appointments are made online, but your Kirby’s friends, and this first session is free of charge.” Bandana opened her mouth to protest, but Clara stopped her, “No, no, no, I insist! He can get regular appointments if he enjoys the first one!”

_ Or if I make him _ , Bandana thought to herself. She turned to Kirby on the couch, now happily eating a snack and seemingly oblivious to anything going on, “That sounds perfect, thank you so much for helping and making my life so much easier!”

“Of course! It’s really no problem!” Clara waved Bandana bye as Bandana was walking out the door, “I’ll see you soon, then!”

“Bye,” Bandana waved as she left, “and thank you again!”

Bandana closed the door behind her and looked over at Meta Knight leaning on his blue car. His hood was up and very secured over his face to the point where sunlight was not touching any part of his skin. He looked up at her then back down.

“You have the keys.” He deadpanned. He held out his hand, “I’d like my car back.”

Bandana sighed and gave him his keys. They drove to Bandana’s family’s house in silence.

* * *

The car came to a stop in front of her family’s house and she opened the door. Before walking up to the house, she spoke to Meta Knight:

“Look, I’m really sorry, but I didn’t think you’d go through with your promise and I…” She stopped and looked at the ground, “Me and Dedede want  _ you _ back. You used to not be like this…” She paused again and wondered why she never asked the one question that would answer everything, “Did something happen with…”  _ your dad? _

He didn’t answer. He only looked at his hands on the steering wheel for the longest time, but just as Bandana was about to close the door and let him leave:

“People change.” He deadpanned, “ _ This is for the better. _ ”

Then he reached over, closed the door, and drove away. A terrible feeling was left in her gut at those words and she didn’t need to know what they meant in Popstarian ( _ English _ ) to know that they meant bad news. Meta Knight’s dad always said those words.

* * *

Bandana was reassured by her mom, dad, and little brother, but not even their soft words stopped her from crying herself to sleep that night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I went back and changed a few things and I’ll tell you what I changed here: 1) The name of the restaurant is just Dreamland now, but the story title is still going to be the same, 2) I changed Bandana’s real name to Anne (pronounced Ann, not Annie), 3) Blade is a transgender man.
> 
> FACTS!:
> 
> Bandana does still live with her parents. Dedede lives alone in a house. Meta Knight shares an apartment with his roommates Sword and Blade. Kirby still lives with his mom, obviously.
> 
> I don’t know why I keep forgetting to mention this, but Meta Knight’s accent is a Japanese one. Anytime it says the accent draws out vowels or pronounces L’s and R’s weird, that’s how I describe a Japanese accent.
> 
> Everyone knows that race is different from species, right? Okay, good. I wasn’t sure because Magolor has still not been given a species name and is always just called Halcandrian. Another thing is that this world’s races are all swapped around and mismatched with each other:
> 
> *Florian is this world’s version of Spanish, but it doesn’t have Hispanic foods that we associate with Hispanic culture, it’s mostly salads and baked foods though.
> 
> *Halcandrian is French, but with food from the Middle East.
> 
> *Popstarian is English, but with Japanese food.
> 
> *Majic (most people call it Demon Beast, only Majic people say Majuu and Majic) is Japanese and it’s “culture” is very brutal. It was kind of just made up by the Nightmare bloodline and turned into a thing. They also don’t call anyone friends and they say Mikata instead.


	6. Symptoms That Last - Meta Knight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Meta Knight gets back to his apartment.

The door seemed intimidating. The lock seemed to be glaring at him, daring the key to allow him access to his apartment. The door was tall, it was dark, a stark contrast to the peached colored walls of the hallway. The door was unnerving in a way his father might be, but at a much lesser scale.

Meta Knight rolled his eyes and forced the key through the lock and stepped inside, “Sword, Blade.”

There was no response, Blade was still working, and Sword was still out and probably at the library. The apartment was quiet. Very quiet. Too quiet.

_ They left you,  _ one of the voices whispered into his ear,  _ we don’t blame them for not wanting to associate with someone as worthless as you. _

His hand gripped the box of macaroni and cheese from the Florian Floral Cafè and he walked over to the kitchen. He grabbed a fork and departed for the refuge, in his opinion, of his room. He locked the door behind him and sat down on the bed.

Meta Knight opened the box of macaroni and stared down at its contents. It's disgusting, revolting contents gazed back up at him. He closed his eyes and groaned, trying not to think about food at all, especially eating it. He opened his eyes and looked back down at the cheesy shells. He swallowed thickly and tried to force himself to eat, but the very thought of food made him sick to his stomach.

He closed the to-go container and sighed. He threw the container and the fork in the trash, as if both were revolting. The former for being food, and the latter for being handled by a worthless fool.

The bag tied together easily and he hoisted it out of the trash can. Such trash has to be taken out.

Upon his return from the alleyway dumpster, he put a new black bag in the can and left for his room. The apartment was beginning to feel  _ very  _ small and everything seemed to be closing in on him.

To attempt an escape, Meta Knight picked up one of the many books in his room. He stared at the cover. It was a fiction book written in Majuu. The book contained stories of everything from disappearing children’s cases to a love story gone wrong. It was kind of like  _ Goosebumps  _ in a way.

It was one of his favorite books, but he couldn’t seem to focus on the words. He kept seeing movements from the corner of his eye and the words kept blurring in and out of focus. His mind was tired, that was all, right?

In truth, it may have been. He gave up, putting the book down as he felt no enjoyment in what he had read. He hadn’t had a good rest in weeks. He began having constant nightmares that kept getting worse and worse. Until he decided to give up on sleeping and now just worked until he passed out.

Last time he fell asleep intentionally, he was woken up screaming and crying by Sword and Blade in the main room. They told him that he was sleepwalking. They didn’t push what his dream was about, which he always silently thanked them for. He didn’t want to relive such things again and again.

He suddenly got a strange feeling, like he was being watched. He turned to the window, which had heavy curtains drawn over it. He swore he saw someone or some _ thing _ move.

Pulling his hood more over his still masked face, he opened the curtains suddenly and saw… nothing?

No that wasn’t right. There was someone watching him just now. He felt it. He even saw it!

But how could they have seen through such thick curtains? How did  _ he _ see them through those curtains?

Wait, that didn’t matter. Why did it matter? Why didn’t it matter? They were watching him, and he knew it. 

Meta Knight looked down to the street and stumbled back in horror at what he saw.

Eyes. Eyes everywhere. Eyes belonging to everyone and everything. All trained on him. Him. Him. Only him.

Meta Knight was shaking as he gazed into the lifeless, glassy eyes of them. Of everyone. Of them.

_ Tch. I can’t believe you're scared of people looking at you. No wonder you’re so weak. A weak, pathetic, loser that can’t do anything right. _

His breathing quickened, and he was soon hyperventilating. The room was spinning, everything was closing in on him, spots began to dance in front of his eyes, and yet, they still watched.

He couldn’t breathe, everything was too close, they were too watchful. He made a shaky effort to stand, not sure when he had fallen. He braced himself against the wall, his back to it. And they still watched him.

It felt like he was being squeezed, but he was still forced to put on a show with everyone watching him. His vision blurred and twisted, all while whispers that he didn’t understand reached his ears. They were still watching him. They can still see him. They were here.

“Hey! Yo, Meta Knight?” He heard Sword’s voice, “I’m back from the library. I also went to the store and got stuff for dinner. Where are you?”

Meta Knight opened his mouth to answer, but couldn’t breathe, the room wouldn’t stop spinning, and his vision wouldn’t focus. The eyes had disappeared. The voices were gone. But he couldn’t tell, he couldn’t breathe and everything was starting to feel very far away.

He fell to the ground and onto his side as everything got darker and further from his mind.

After what felt like years, the door to his room opened and light flooded in. He could just barely see the silhouette of Sword as his mind drifted further and further away.

* * *

The first thing he felt was the softness of blankets when he came to. Everything felt heavy and it felt like there was a weight on his chest. He opened his eyes and saw nothing but darkness, which left him confused for only a second.

“Here,” he heard a foggy voice say as something tapped his hand, “put these on.”

Meta Knight grabbed for the item and dimly recognized it as his special glasses. He put them on and could see, although everything was fading in and out of focus. He could see Blade sitting on his bed, looking at him with worry in his eyes.

“If you have asthma, like you say,” Blade spoke then turned away from him, “you need an inhaler…”

It took him a moment to register the words and formulate a response in his slowed mind, “While I appreciate your worry, an inhaler will be of no help to me.”

Blade frowned and he wondered if he slurred his words or gave any other indication to the exhaustion and slowness of his mind. Blade closed his eyes and shook his head, “Then at least get a good night sleep. I’ll let them know that you’re taking an off day tomorrow, and I don’t want to see you out of this bed until I say so.”

Blade walked out of Meta Knight’s room and shut the door behind him.

Now he was alone. Alone. Alone with the suffocating silence.

He attempted to stand up, but that caused him a wave of dizziness and he fell back on to the bed. He was still short of breath and there was still hardly enough oxygen reaching his body. His wings twitched of their own accord.

_ Can’t even stand,  _ he heard a voice that sounded like his father say,  _ I was right. Pathetic. _

_ Why am I even friends with you?  _ He heard Bandana say,  _ You can’t even prove you’re strong. _

_ I ain’t even feel bad for him anymore,  _ Dedede said,  _ he couldn’t even go through with offing himself. _

“I know that  _ I _ hate him,” Bandana spoke.

“You’re not worth our time, loser,” Dedede said.

Tears were forming in Meta Knight’s eyes. He knew they were right, and that’s what made them real.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Blade says that Meta Knight said he had asthma, but emphasis on that's what he said and not what is. It's something I made up that is very similar to asthma. This chapter also listed out a variety of symptoms of different mental disorders that poor Meta is dealing with. Oh, yeah, and the eating thing is not an eating disorder like Anorexia.
> 
> Fact.ios all about wings:
> 
> Meta Knight's wings are always the thing around him, like a jacket or cardigan, due to shapeshifting, but if he falls unconscious or is tired enough to pass out at any time, his wings will be out of hiding. His wings could also come out of the shapeshifted form if he is drunk, he also has almost no control over them at all if he is drunk and they will just sit there limply most of that time.
> 
> Meta Knight's shirts all have a hole in the back for him to get his wings through, it's only visible if his wings are out.
> 
> Dedede and Bandana both were initially freaked out when Meta Knight revealed his wings to them, but got used to them and the fact that they exist.
> 
> The Puffball species' wings come in when they come of age, the species comes of age when they are around 18... wait, isn't Kirby 18?
> 
> Meta Knight actually has had his wings since *way* before he was 18, but he won't tell Dedede or Bandana when he got them or why he got them so early.
> 
> Even when he is in privacy, Meta Knight normally keeps his wings hidden because of how big they are and he normally knocks something over because he forgets about the massive demons on his back.
> 
> Still on the topic of the massive demons, his wings often move of their own accord, like they have a mind of their own.
> 
> Meta Knight does have two pairs of wings, but keeps the smaller ones hidden from everyone and not even Dedede and Bandana know about them.
> 
> His extra wings came in when he was 18, like his wings were supposed to.


	7. Oh, How Romantic! - Dedede

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dedede helps Taranza with his proposal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I forgot to add these wing facts to the last chapter’s facts, so here they are now (I also may have come up with a few more to help with my motivation for this chapter):
> 
> Because of the size of Meta Knight’s wings, most smaller beds won't fit him, so he has a *really* large bed in comparison to his size. Just imagine walking into your midget friend's room and seeing a king-size bed.
> 
> Meta falls asleep on his back even if it is extremely uncomfortable. He does this because his father made him because it’s “the proper way to sleep.”
> 
> Because he falls asleep so uncomfortably, he tosses and turns in his sleep and normally wakes up in an odd position, anywhere from on his stomach (how he *should* be sleeping) to falling off the bed and the impact waking him.
> 
> His wings do become sore and cause him lots of pain sometimes because of how he sleeps, which always makes it harder to control them.
> 
> If anyone were to sleep with him, it would be a hard time for one of the two or both of them. But because his wings are always out when he is going to sleep and is asleep, either his partner will be crushing one of his wings and he doesn’t want to bother them, or his wing will just hit his partner in the face and freak them out because of the claws on them. It just depends on who gets to sleep first… or if either of them ever get to sleep.

“Don’t worry, he’s not needed today.” Dedede said to Blade as he explained Meta Knight’s inability to work, “I want him to take as much as he can off, actually…. Bandana also says that they both need tomorrow morning off, so I can get some practice today!”

Blade nodded and whispered his thanks, then got to giving commands to the kitchen. Dedede began walking around the restaurant and checking on the few customers that were there, he wanted to make sure they had a good time. Most local places, especially restaurants, weren’t doing good. Taranza had suggested that he start a side business, like with his flower arrangements, but Dedede didn’t know how to do much else than run a place.

In all honesty, Dedede was nothing more than a pretty face that was charismatic and good at controlling the masses. Meta Knight handled most of the financial work while Bandana handled advertising, courtesy to their patrons, and, when they had first begun the restaurant, experimenting with different dishes to make a menu. Dedede had always wanted to be more help, but there was not much he could do. He was not good with electronics, like Meta Knight. He was not the best at inventing recipes and then making those recipes, like Bandana. He definitely couldn’t focus on a screen with nothing but numbers on it for hours, and he certainly couldn’t be very formal with the restaurant’s patrons.

Dedede just felt a little useless sometimes…

Dedede noticed Taranza walk into the restaurant and start looking around, until he caught sight of Dedede and walked over to him, “Hello there,” Taranza moved into a deep bow and feigned formality, “Your Majesty.”

“Hehe, how’s it goin’, Taranza?” Dedede waved his hands over to a table and they sat down.

“Pleasantly well, my friend. I did come with questions, though.” All of Taranza’s six hands laid flat on the table.

“Bout what?” Dedede watched as two of Taranza’s detached hands formed a finger pyramid in front of him.

“You are the one of you three that is good with girls, yes?”

“Well, Bandana doesn’t flirt and Meta is… him.”

Taranza motioned for Dedede to lean in closer and whispered into his ear, “I want to propose to Sectonia and I would like your help!”

Dedede smiled brightly and forgot all about Taranza’s attempts at a whispered conversation, “That’s great, Tarny!” Dedede paused and his mind lingered on one thought that he voiced next, “But, wait, I always considered you a  _ great _ ladies man… why d’you want my help?”

“Well… you see,” Taranza seemed to consider something, “I have everything planned out, I even know what gift I want to give to her at the wedding… but I tried proposing on our date last night and she just made me really nervous.”

Dedede put a hand up to his chin, “I see… to solve this, I will first need to know what about her is making you so nervous!”

Taranza smiled at Dedede’s unvoiced agreement to help, “Well… Sectonia is just so beautiful. Her looks, her personality, her voice… everything about her is just so perfect. From the pink highlights in her hair, to the shoes she chooses to wear. Her chocolatey-brown skin is so beautiful that I can’t help but falter at my words. And, I just love her dearly…”

“Hey, quit drooling on my table,” Dedede quipped. A thought hit him in the face and he got the best idea, “I know! You should write her a song!”

Taranza flinched backward from Dedede’s outburst and from surprise, “A-a song? I can’t write a song…”

“But you just did!” Dedede exclaimed, then began to explain, “You rhymed hair with wear, so there’s your first set of lyrics!”

“Say… I think it’s a great idea!” Taranza paused in realization, “But, even if I can play the flute, I can’t sing… even if I could, I can’t play a flute and sing at the same time…”

Dedede put his hand to his chin in thought, “Hmm… what if we record your voice, make it sound clearer, then you could play your little flute along to the recording of you?”

Taranza thought for a moment, Dedede could tell he was weighing his option and would want to give Sectonia the most extravagant proposal he could, “You know what? You’ve got a great mind, Triple D. I’d love to stay and keep up our chat, but I promised Sectonia I’d pick up some Starbucks for her.” Taranza stood up and bowed low for Dedede, “Later, 3-D.”

“Yer always welcome here.” Dedede gave Taranza a friendly, but kind of rough, pat on the back. Taranza left shortly after that, and Dedede made his way into the manager’s office.

Dedede knew that Taranza was loyal, but he also knew that Taranza was more loyal to Sectonia than anything or anyone else. Dedede’s mind lingered over more thoughts about Taranza, like his fantastic charisma and romantic knowledge. Taranza almost always knew what to say, as long as he knew a little bit about the person. Why, Dedede had even seen Taranza successfully comfort Meta Knight when  _ both _ Dedede and Bandana had failed. Taranza and Meta Knight are barely more than acquaintances!

But what about Sectonia and Taranza’s wedding, if Taranza could find the right time to pop the question that is, how would the wedding itself be? Dedede had gone to one of his mom’s friend’s weddings before, but he was really young and only remembered it being dreadful… so would their wedding be boring too? He could already tell he was going to be invited, hopefully it would be more enjoyable now that he was old enough to participate in the party after the ceremony.

All this thinking about a wedding made him wonder about his other friends. Bandana was a very wanted woman back in high school. One time, Dedede had to chase a guy away from her because he wouldn’t leave her alone and it was starting to get creepy. He recalled the way Bandana always wore her bright-blue cloth headband after Dedede helped Meta Knight pick it out as a birthday present for her. Before that, she wore normal headbands of other colors and always complained to Dedede that they dug into her scalp and that the blue ones were her favorite.

Dedede smiled to himself as he remembered the confused look on Meta Knight’s face about why she was so happy to get a piece of clothing. Dedede smiled even brighter as he remembered the smile that spread across Bandana’s soft, beautiful face. He laughed quietly.

Wait. His smile deepened to a frown as he felt his insides warm up at the very thought of Bandana. He came to a horrible realization:

_ He was in love with his best friend. S***. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hehehehe… oh, poor Dedede, allow me to apologize in advance for the tear-jerker I have for you in the future.
> 
> I was going to post another chapter of Quest of the Demon, But it came out *way* too short and I’m at a loss as to how to make it longer, and in the process of trying to work through writer’s block on that story, I worked through the writer’s block for this story and accidentally finished the chapter… oops.
> 
> I have decided which of the game archs will go first, and no it is not Triple Deluxe and Sectonia will get her screen time before that happens. The first game arch will be non-other than-drumroll please!-Revenge of Meta Knight… hehehehehehe… research my friends… research showed me which game to chose.
> 
> Facts make the world go around:
> 
> Dedede calls Bandana his best friend in this chapter, and it’s a really sad line if you’ve experienced something like this before:
> 
> *Meta Knight calls Dedede his best friend, Bandana calls Dedede her best friend, and Dedede calls Bandana his best friend. (It doesn’t stay like this though.)
> 
> In this alternate version of reality where there are multiple human species, there is a wedding tradition where the two to be married get gifts for each other and present them at the wedding party after they say “I do” and the gifts are like a test to see if you know your significant other enough to get them the best gift.
> 
> Dedede is a dog person, Meta Knight is a cat person, and Bandana likes cats and dogs.
> 
> Fear is a common motif:
> 
> *Bandana is afraid of losing the people she loves and betraying someone’s trust. These fears would be why Meta Knight’s suicide attempt hurt her more than it did Dedede and it is also why she never told Dedede, or anyone, that Meta Knight commits self-harming acts.
> 
> *Dedede fears that he isn’t enough sometimes and that he may be worthless, hence this chapter. He also has a slight fear of the dark, so he sleeps with a nightlight on.
> 
> *Meta Knight has a lot of fears that come from childhood trauma, unsolved abandonment issues, and from the many mental disorders he struggles with because of the two formers. He is terrified of wolves and dogs, loud noises, being left alone, and water. Another thing about how I write him when he is afraid, horror means fear of something not real in English classes, and terror means fear of something that is real. Trust me when I say that will be important when you’re trying to figure out what is and isn’t real in his chapters.
> 
> Meta Knight hates the sun and being outside, he burns *very* easily. Dedede, on the other hand, loves the beach and hardly gets a sunburn. Bandana is the middle ground, she likes places like the beach and gets sunburned like white-skinned people normally do.


	8. Please, Tell Me - Bandana

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bandana goes to Meta Knight's place to go to his session together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNINGS: This chapter contains a self-harm reference and an unnerving description of an injury. This chapter will also contain some drama between friends, the drama contains some censored swearing.

It was Thursday and Bandana was standing in front of Meta Knight’s apartment door, apartment number 237. The complex organized its apartments by numbers, but not like most others because they counted the number of apartments before the apartment that needed a number. Meta Knight’s apartment was on one of the highest floors.

She knocked on the door and waited for a few moments before the door opened and Meta Knight stood there looking up at her. She noticed a chair to the side of the door that he must have used to see out the peephole.

“What?” Meta Knight spoke in a harsh tone, like he was angry. His arms were crossed and his wings were out and folded across his back. He wore a black, short-sleeved t-shirt that showed off his arms and some of his tattoos. His mask was on.

Bandana quit eyeing the tattoo on the inside of his left forearm that said  _ All work and no play makes James a dull boy _ , “Oh, uh… did you want to get breakfast before we go to your therapy?” She had come early to try and convince him to have breakfast with her, “It's early, so-”

“No.” He reached his right hand out to the door to close it in her face, but she stepped out her foot and the door collided with her sneakers. 

Her eyes flicked to the bandage still on his right arm, it was a new bandage, but it was soaked in blood, “What happened there.” She pointed to his arm that was still holding the door.

“None of your f***ing business!” He tried to slam the door shut, but his injured arm couldn’t handle his full strength and he hissed in pain as he held his arm to his chest.

Bandana was shocked that Meta Knight had just yelled at her for seemingly no reason at all, “Meta Knight, is there something wrong?” She took care to not elevate her voice, but his next words still hurt her.

“Leave me alone, b****.”

She grabbed his shoulders and forced him to look into her eyes, “What is wrong.” She stated it as a demand, using one of Meta Knight’s weaknesses against him.

He only stared at her for what seemed like the longest time, then he broke out in a fit of laughter. Cackling, loud laughter. She closed the door with her foot and took off Meta Knight’s mask, there were tears at the corners of his eyes, but she didn’t know if that was from his laughter or something else, “Answer me, Meta, what’s wrong.”

Through his crazed laughter, he spoke, “You and Dedede hate me!” He continued laughing.

“Meta, stop!” She shook him slightly. He crumbled down to his knees and his laughter quieted as his expression fell.

“You and Dedede hate me…”

Bandana looked down at him, his wings splayed out behind him, “Why would you think that?”

“You and Dedede told me that you hate me…”

Bandana stared at him in disbelief, “We would never say something like that, we love you.”

“My father told me I was incapable of being loved and needed to prove that I am strong-”

“Your father was here?”

“-so I did.” He held out his arm wrapped in bandages and Bandana took them off. Underneath was probably one of the worst injuries she had ever seen. It looked like he had taken a knife and peeled his skin off with it. The wound didn’t look like it was cleaned either, Bandana had to look away to keep from throwing up.

Bandana brought Meta Knight into the bathroom and began to clean the wound as she urged Meta Knight to keep telling her what happened.

“They keep saying I’m not strong and they’ll leave me alone if I can prove to them I’m strong enough, but I’m not. I already tried to do what they wanted and I failed, so I did this as the next best thing for them. They say it’s still not enough.” He looked down. “I’m worthless, pathetic, a loser, useless.”

Bandana looked up at him while she continued, “Meta… no, you’re-you’re not useless and you aren’t any of those things.” She paused. “Who is ‘they’?”

“They.” What a helpful answer.

“Ooooookay?” Bandana finished cleaning his arm and wrapped it in a new bandage, “Done, wait here I’ll go get your mask for you.”

Bandana went back to the front of the apartment and retrieved Meta Knight’s mask. Now she stood just outside the bathroom and was listening to Meta Knight’s voice converse with an unheard person.

“I’m sorry… I tried… I can’t, it would be wrong… yes, you are right… I’m sorry…” there was a hitch in his voice.

Bandana went back into the bathroom and Meta Knight was still staring at his newly bandaged arm with tears shining in his eyes. Bandana put his mask in his hand and asked who he was talking to as he put it back on. He only told her it was nothing.

Bandana decided that they should leave early.

* * *

The door to Kirby’s house opened, revealing Kirby himself in the doorway, “Hi guys!” He waved, “Come on in!”

Bandana greeted him and walked in. Meta Knight said nothing and just followed Bandana into Kirby’s house. Again, rude.

“Sorry for being here a bit early,” Bandana sheepishly rubbed the back of her neck, “I just thought that we should come early…”

“That’s fine!” Kirby was nearly jumping up and down with excitement, “My mama is here and you were her first appointment for today, so she’s free!”

Clara called from inside the house, “Kirby, honey, who is it?”

“It’s your first appointment, mama!” Kirby called out like he had said similar sentences many times before that.

“Go ahead and lead them to the living room,” Clara called, “I’ll be down in just a moment!”

Kirby waved Bandana and Meta Knight over to the couch where they sat down. Kirby kept asking them questions, like what they ate for breakfast and if they watched any shows. Bandana kept answering Kirby’s questions, but Meta Knight never even opened his mouth. RUDE!

After waiting a while longer, Clara came down the stairs in a t-shirt, blue jeans, and socks on, “Welcome back, Bandana and Meta Knight!” She sat down in the chair that Bandana and Meta Knight sat in and on, respectively, last time they were here, “So, can you tell me about what kind of issues you’ve been experiencing, or would you rather we start with you telling me about your day-to-day life?”

He didn’t answer. Why does he have to be so rude?!

Bandana turned to look at him, “Uhh… Meta Knight, you have to answer her.”

“Why?”

“Because she’s your psychiatrist.”

“That doesn’t mean anything.”

“Yes it does, she’s going to help you and you  _ promised  _ me you were going to get help.”

“I lied to your face.”

Bandana’s face fell, “Why would you lie about something like that?”

He shrugged.

“Can you please tell her? Please answer her questions? For me?”

He turned to look at her and stayed silent for ages, but he finally gave her a grumbled yes.

Bandana bounced slightly and hugged him, “Thank you so much!” Bandana let go of him when he growled at her in Demon Beast.

Meta Knight turned to look at Clara, then politely said, “I’ll tell you about how I spend my days first.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hate to leave you guys here, but I’m on a roll with uploads and the next chapter is already started. I also decided that I want the session to be from Kirby’s POV because he can’t read Meta Knight well, but he understands his mom better than Bandana or Meta Knight, and I have a rule to only go from canon characters’ POVs in this story.
> 
> I also started school back up the day before I posted this, so updates may be quicker. Shocking, I know, but lots of my classes are saying that we should bring laptops and I have a Game Design class (which is with computers if you couldn’t tell), and I complete work fast so I’ll have plenty of time to use Google Docs.
> 
> Oh, yeah, I’m gonna make Stephen King references to Meta Knight a lot (and classic horror in general), so be warned and stay alert… I’m already dropping some hints… since chapter 3.
> 
> I lost the love of my life to a man of facts:
> 
> Meta Knight does have Galaxia in this AU, she just doesn’t really have a place yet. He keeps her in her scabbard under his left-wing and she is not visible on the outside of the jacket his wings become because she is halfway into the pocket dimension that Meta Knight still has.
> 
> Meta Knight can’t use his pocket dimension when his wings are out, but when they are transformed he can stick his hand into the inside of his jacket and pull anything from his pocket dimension out. He did this in chapter one when he gave Kirby the mask.
> 
> Dedede has always found the pocket dimension to be really fun and Bandana has always wanted to know how it works.
> 
> Ripplians (residents of Ripple Star) are mostly female fairies. Ripplians have a similar culture to China, but with women on top. It also has Chinese food, but the language is Latin. 
> 
> Ripple Star also has a very special tradition, which is if you want a baby, you can go to a special shrine called The Child’s Fountain and make a wish to the waters while you pray to NOVA. If you (and any partners that you want to have the baby with) do that and then throw something of strong sentimental value into the waters, you and your partners will have a dream that night where you can wish up how you want the baby to be, but there is no guarantee that the child will be *exactly* how you want it, for example, you may want to start with a three-year-old but still get a newborn. After the dream, the child will appear in one week and the item you placed in the shrine will be the incubating child, you can cancel the wish by taking back the item, but it’s seen as rude to NOVA. Once the child has appeared, the item will be gone and there is no going back.
> 
> Patchlandic people have a culture like Italy and the language is Italian, but they don’t have food that originated from their culture, instead, they are known for crafts, like wool blankets and yarn. Most people that come from Patchland are the species known as Yarnlings.
> 
> The longer Meta Knight has gone on with schizophrenia, the less and less he has heard Galaxia’s voice in his mind.
> 
> The universal goddess of creation, time, and clockwork is NOVA. Universal meaning that everyone believes in her and her power. Some people will think of her differently though, like with looks and backstory.


	9. There's No Such Thing as a Problem! - Kirby

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kirby's friends are in his house, yay!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I predict that with school starting, my uploads will be more scheduled, but eh, who the frick knows. ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
> 
> (I did notice that they probably won’t be faster because of my classes and all the homework I get and combined with work, it’s a lot.)
> 
> I’m also going to write Kirby as if he has Mania, don’t know if I’ll have him have it yet, but I’ll let you know.
> 
> Kirby is like oblivious to problems...

Kirby was so excited! So so so so excited! Wait, maybe that was an understatement, but who cares?

He had friends and they were in his house! So why shouldn’t he be excited?

“Wait, mama!” Kirby quickly got his mom’s attention from Meta Knight, “Can I go get the cookies?!”

Clara smiled at her son, “Of course!” She turned to Meta Knight and Bandana, “He made you guys some cookies for our session.”

Bandana smiled, “That’s so nice, thank you, Kirby!” She elbowed Meta Knight like she was urging him to say something, but he said nothing. Guess he doesn’t talk much, huh?

Kirby returned with a tray of peanut butter cookies and set it down on the coffee table as Meta Knight was explaining what he does most days to his mom. Kirby always loved listening to his mom’s sessions. She was always so good at reading what people kept hidden and telling them how to take care of themselves. She had one client that had a high psychopathic score named something along the lines of Mark, maybe? She also had a client that was maybe a little younger than Kirby and had scattered thoughts whose name was Gary, but wait, didn’t he say he went by a nickname?

Kirby realized that he wasn’t listening and jumped out of his thoughts to focus on the important words being exchanged.

“Okay,” his mom said in response to something that Meta Knight had said, “When do you get off of work normally?”

Meta Knight seemed to consider the question for a moment, “The restaurant closes at 2200.”

“But when do  _ you _ leave?”

“... 2230.”

Kirby noticed his mom’s eyes narrow slightly, indicating that she didn’t fully believe the answer, but would do some digging later, “Right, so you probably get home at around 10:40 PM. What do you do when you get home so late?”

“I… sleep…”

Kirby saw Bandana elbow him again and his mom’s eyes narrowed visibly. His mom decided that she would try getting some truth from him, “Do you do anything  _ before _ you go to sleep?”

Meta Knight’s form seemed to stiffen, “I… get ready for bed.”

“Do you eat at all? You never said that you ate at work?”

Bandana’s brow furrowed and she turned to look at Meta Knight, like she was realizing something she had never noticed before, “Meta Knight, you don’t eat?”

Meta Knight shifted and his gaze traveled to the floor, “I… do you want the truth?”

Bandana looked away from him, like she knew it would hurt and didn’t want it.

Kirby’s mom sighed, “I wish to hear the truth about your entire day, Meta Knight. Bandana, if you would like to leave, you can go with Kirby, and Kirby?”

He perked up at hearing his name, “Yes, mama?”

“Kirby, I don’t want you to hear this…” Kirby saw his mom give him a sad smile, as if she knew what he might say, “Why don’t you take Bandana up to your room with you?”

* * *

Kirby sat on top of his bed after his mom sent him away with Bandana, who was sitting in one of Kirby’s beanbags. Bandana seemed upset. Why was she upset? She was with Kirby! Kirby’s a fun friend, right? Yeah! Kirby  _ is _ fun! Maybe it was time for him to try to play therapist?

“Bandana, I’m so glad you could make it,” Kirby put on his formal voice (oh dear), “Please, have a seat.”

“Wh… what?” Bandana said, like she was confused or something… weird.

“Have a seat and tell me about your day.” Kirby was sure to sit straight up with perfect posture, “I’m your therapist, so tell me how you feel.”

Bandana smiled slightly and stifled a laugh, “Okay, then, Mr. Kirby.”

“So, how have you been doing?”

“Good.”

“And what has been bothering you?”

Bandana seemed to flinch and Kirby noticed that her hand was curled into a fist, had it always been a fist? She looked at the floor and shook her head, “N-nothing… Mr. Kirby.”

Kirby felt as though he had crossed a line. Did he violate personal boundaries? He must have. He should apologize, “I-I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to…”

Bandana wiped at her eyes, did he really make her cry? She looked at him, “No, it’s fine.  _ I _ didn’t even know how much that would… hurt…”

They both sat in silence until there was a knock on Kirby’s door. Kirby got up and opened it to reveal his mom waiting. She asked to speak with Bandana, who reluctantly got up and closed Kirby’s door behind her.

Despite the door separating them, Kirby could still hear his mom’s voice and the saddened tone it held, “Bandana, I don’t want to upset you, but Meta Knight shows signs of being suicidal and he also shows signs of a few other mental illnesses.”

There was a hitch in Bandana’s voice, “Like what?”

There was a pause until it was broken by his mother, “He doesn’t seem to eat and it sounds like he is experiencing hearing voices and psychotic episodes. Not eating is a sign of anorexia and depression, while hearing voices and psychotic episodes are related to schizophrenia.”

“Schizophrenia?” Asked Bandana’s quiet, hurt voice.

“Yes, although I can’t prescribe him anything until I have properly diagnosed him with something.”

“What do you need to do to diagnose him?”

“Anorexia and depression are simple, but a schizophrenia diagnostic requires him to show signs for six months and two core symptoms for at least a month.”

“Six  _ months?! _ ” There was shock evident in Bandana’s voice.

His mom sighed, a sign that she wasn’t happy, and based on her tone of voice, she was saddened with the inability to help Bandana very much, “I know it’s a long time, but maybe he has already been showing signs for a while… do you know?”

There was another pause before Bandana spoke again, “What are the signs?”

“Well, there are some more common ones, but there are a lot nonetheless. Some of the more commonly known ones are delusions, hallucinations, disorganized behavior and speech, hearing voices, paranoia, anxiety, apathy, anger, aggression, self-harm, depression, fatigue, inappropriate laughter or crying, and social isolation. Someone with schizophrenia may also seem to have an inability to care for themself.”

“... Lot’s of that sounds like him…”

“Do you know how long that has sounded like him?”

“Some of it, for as long as I have known him. He’s never been social and he’s never shown much emotion, most emotion he shows is out of place and inappropriate…”

“How long have you known each other?” Kirby’s mom sounded interested.

“We weren’t always friends, but I have known him for about 7 and a half years?”

“That’s a really long time for schizophrenia to go undiagnosed. Has he been showing signs of hallucinations and delusions for at least a month?”

There was a very long pause and Kirby was worried that they had moved out of his hearing range. Next, he heard Bandana’s quiet voice, “What would it mean if I said yes?”

“I could diagnose him with schizophrenia and prescribe some medicine to help. I would have to get the medication, however, and that might be awhile. Medicine for schizophrenia keeps getting harder to get the rarer the disorder becomes.”

There was a sad sounding sigh, “Yes, he has been hearing voices and having delusions… he thinks me and Dedede hate him…”

“I’m sorry. A schizophrenic diagnostic always hurts those closest to the person.” Kirby heard the click of a pen, indicating that his mom was writing on her clipboard now, “Does he have any family?”

Another pause, “Me and Dedede are the closest thing to a family that he has.”

“Do you know if his family has had a history of and disorders?”

“None that I know of.”

"Hmm. Meta Knight seems to have experienced some sort of trauma early in his life that has been causing him some issues.”

“Well… his dad was abusive and controlling.”

“I see… that is all I had to tell you, do you want to stay up here with Kirby, or do you want to come down with me to tell him?”

Kirby heard a sniff, “I want to come down with you. Can I please use your bathroom real quick to clean up?”

“Of course, but one more thing, does he live with anyone?”

“Uh, yes, he lives with his roommates Sword and Blade.”

“I recommend you stay with him for a bit and let them know, do you live with anyone?”

“I live with my parents still, but Dedede has been trying to get me and Meta Knight to move in with him.”

“It is completely up to you, but I think the three of you living together would be best for him. If you don’t want to move out or live with him, then at least let his roommates know. I also d can’t tell how bad his hallucinations are, but with how long he has gone untreated, I would say they can convince him to do almost anything and are very negative.”

“ … I’ll think about it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter: Hey wait, I wonder what Meta Knight has been doing during this long-a-word conversation? Maybe something to do with the plot? Hey, don't the hallucinations start up every time he is alone?
> 
> If I die today, at least I gave you some facts:
> 
> Bandana is a little bit of a cry baby, isn’t she? Yeah, she really loves Meta Knight and Dedede and hates when people are hurting.
> 
> Bandana also scares easily and Dedede and Meta Knight would make her watch horror movies with them and she would jump into each of them at some point during the movie.
> 
> Meta Knight loves the horror genre and has had to resort to begging sometimes to get Bandana and Dedede to watch a horror movie. His favorite horror celebrity is Stephen King, but he also loves many different horror films. He has seen many horror movies from The Shining to crap movies like Jack Frost.
> 
> Because of his extensive knowledge of horror movies, Meta Knight knows the basic formula pretty well and would be the one person to be like “Yeah, so, this is the person who will die first in this horror-movie-like scenario.” Like Ravi in that one episode of Bunk’d that is a parody of slasher films.
> 
> Bandana is definitely not the girliest person in the world, but she has her moments. She did grow up being Dedede’s friend, so she was always kind of boyish, but there are a few times that Dedede and Meta Knight have cringed and gone “Do we have to?” One time at a sleepover at her house, she put on a… rom-com? No, I don’t know any rom-coms… hmmm… she put on Frozen! Yes, she put on Frozen, forced them to watch it, and forced them to let her do their hair.
> 
> When Bandana was doing Meta Knight’s hair, he secretly really enjoyed it because he *loves* to be pet. Petting him was how his father gave him affection. He is just too proud to ask for anyone to pet him.
> 
> Bandana knows he enjoyed it.
> 
> Meta Knight would get pet by his father as a reward sometimes, but most times, it was a punishment in disguise. When his father pet Meta’s wings, he quickly learned that that meant his father was not pleased.
> 
> Meta Knight’s wings are *very* sensitive and he will probably karate chop you in the neck (if he can reach your neck) if you touch them suddenly from behind him. The membrane on his wings is also very delicate and if they are injured, they will heal, but there will almost always be a scar leftover and he will be in constant pain until it is healed.
> 
> He used to not hide his wings in middle school (which won’t match up with my regular universe’s story, but who cares) and he often used them as intimidation. He began hiding them after an accident that caused most of his friends to die, but he escaped using his wings (he’ll tell someone this story later or I will show it in a PTSD-style flash-back).
> 
> Dedede was on the wrestling team in high school and did boxing, just not through the school. Bandana was on the tennis team in high school. Meta Knight wasn’t in any sports for personal reasons, but that never stopped Dedede and Bandana from trying to get him in a sport.
> 
> Dedede was the best and heaviest on the wrestling team (he was the other team’s “Dededestruction”, yes, he said that… many times), but he was never the smartest. He did have intimidation on his side though. Before he and Meta Knight were friends, Dedede was a bully to him and one day got into a fight with Meta Knight. Meta Knight won the fight despite not being heavy or showing any physical signs of being strong. The fight actually lead to them becoming friends.
> 
> Bandana was far from the best on the team, but she had good upper-body strength and a good serve as a result.
> 
> I’m sure you all know who Meta Knight’s father is at this point, but I’m still gonna call him his father until the next chapter.
> 
> I promise you all that I did lots of research on how to diagnose someone with schizophrenia and the different medications and their side-effects, but I will tell you this:
> 
> *I am not going to get a new character to be Meta Knight’s doctor, the role will be held by Clara as his psychiatrist.
> 
> *I am going to completely ignore the effects antipsychotic drugs (schizophrenia medication) has on the hormone prolactin because no one wants to read that crap, and I don’t want to write that crap, and if you want to read that crap then go watch Salad Fingers 3: “Nettles” and be done with it. … Please don’t go watch Salad Fingers if you freak easily and/or are under 13.
> 
> I promise I’ll get to the much-more-light-hearted wedding after I finish Revenge of Meta Knight. I still need to figure out how the Meta-Knights will work here… hmm… honestly, I’m sorry, but I don’t think the Meta-Knights have much of a place in the story right now. Sorry about that! I’ll try to make sure that they show up eventually.


	10. Visit - Meta Knight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Someone pays Meta Knight a little visit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is like the “meanwhile” of the last chapter. Also, remember what I told you about the differences between terror and horror.
> 
> This chapter went up at the same time as chapter 9, don’t forget to read the previous chapter!
> 
> And I'm sure the new tag spoiled this chapter for you, but if you didn't look at that yet, don't!

Meta Knight watched Clara leave to go find Bandana upstairs. She had told him to stay there, so he was still sitting on the couch. He eyed Kirby’s cookies that still sat on the coffee table. He wanted some. He wanted them so bad. But… they were probably hard and not sweet enough… maybe it would be a bad idea to eat any…

“Son.” An ethereal voice called from behind him, making Meta Knight jump slightly and turn to look behind him.

A tall man with pale greyish skin, dark blue hair, sunglasses, and a dark purple business suit stood there. Meta Knight knew this man far too well, well enough that he could tell there was a hard gaze behind the man’s shades.

“Father…”

Meta Knight turned to face forward and the air around the chair Clara had been occupying seemed to ripple. The air stilled after milliseconds and his father sat there, with a glass of red wine in hand. He lifted his sunglasses and spoke while looking down at the glass of red, “I would have thought you would be happier to see me, it’s been a while, Meta.”

“Bandana said you are wrong.”

“What was I wrong about?” He lowered his glass and bore his stare into Meta Knight’s masked eyes, “And take off that stupid mask, it’s disrespectful.”

Meta Knight scowled at the terrifying under his mask, but took it off and the whole world was gone with his ability to see. He felt his father’s claws trace the sides of his face, “You can’t see at all, can you?”

Meta Knight turned towards the direction of the soft-sounding voice, “Shouldn’t you be busy being ‘The Nightmare Wizard’?”

“Shouldn’t  _ you _ be answering your father’s questions?” The sharp nails began to trace down Meta Knight’s neck, causing him to shiver slightly as they pressed a little harder around the sensitive areas of his neck.

“I’m 21.”

The claws traced down to his shoulders as his father spoke once more, “And?”

“Why are you here?”

The nails traced his sides, “To see my son, what else? Are you implying I’m a bad father?”

Meta Knight took in a small breath of air, but hesitated to say anything, so his father continued, “Would a bad father raise you? Would a bad father take care of you? Would a bad father come to see his child when he didn’t need to?” Meta Knight had to admit that his father had a point, but he still continued, “Would a bad  _ son _ accuse his loving father of being ‘bad’? Would a bad  _ son _ give his father a hard time? Would a bad  _ son _ be defiant? Who is the bad one here, Meta?”

Meta Knight gave no response and the sharpness of his father’s claws was now moving down the back of his hoodie, “Of all the things you could hide your wings as, and you choose this  _ low-class garment _ ?”

“I like it… father.” The sharp claws dug into the corners of the jacket. Meta Knight bit back a cry as his father essentially clipped his wings, like you would do to a bird in captivity.

“Your wings are a legend given life, you could control and do so much, Meta. Your wings are to be held to a higher standard than  _ anything _ I could do. Yet, you keep them hidden in clothes that the common wear.”

“Father, that hurts.” The claws were pinched through his wings by now and suddenly ripped through the corners of his hoodie and wings and caused white-hot pain to turn on in Meta Knight’s mind, but he bit back his scream. Screaming would only make it worse.

“It better, you insolent  _ brat _ !” Meta Knight heard his father take a few steps back from him, “When I come back to see you again out of the goodness in my heart, you better be more appreciative!”

Meta Knight felt around for his mask. When his fingers found the cool, soothing metal, he thrust it back onto his face and immediately looked at the corners of his jacket. Both corners were ripped open and bleeding. Meta Knight could tell that he wouldn’t be able to fly until the injury was healed.

“That must hurt, huh?” Bandana spoke, “But you  _ did _ deserve it.”

Meta Knight looked down, “I know…”

“You feel like nothing to him.”

“Yes…”

“That’s because you  _ are _ nothing to him.” Her tone was harsh and she had him convinced of anything she said, “Want to know what to do for your last chance to prove you’re strong?”

He answered with a small, timid nod of his head.

“You know how much me and Dedede hate you right? Well, I have a little secret to share with you…” Meta Knight didn’t see her move closer to him, he only felt her soft, unfamiliar hands grip his shoulders and her hot breath push against his face.

Her hands squeezed his shoulders then began to move down his arms. She whispered into his pointed ears, “We are going to kill you~”

Meta Knight instantly tensed up, horrified. Weren’t Bandana and Dedede his  _ Mikata _ ? Bandana said that they loved him? But now, she is saying they hate him again. 

He attempted to shrug her hands off his arms, but to no avail. Why was Bandana suddenly so strong? This was Bandana, he was certain of that, but it didn’t add up.

“You can save yourself  _ and _ prove how strong you are.” Her hands rubbed up and down his arms, then moved back up to his shoulders and squeezed hard, “Kill us, or we’ll get you first.”

He heard running steps toward him and a worried, female voice spoke, “Nova! Meta, are you okay? Why are you bleeding?!” 

He looked up at the face belonging to the voice and saw the terrifying face belonging to Bandana. He recoiled in fear as he saw one of the two people that were trying to kill him. Bandana’s eyes widened as she probably saw the fear in his eyes.

She grabbed him around the sides of his shoulders, “Tell me what happened!”

Meta Knight closed his eyes and shook his head. Maybe she doesn’t know that she told him their plan? Maybe she does. She’s probably just bidding her time to wait until it will really hurt.

Clara reached for Bandana’s arm and pushed it down from Meta Knight, “Meta Knight, I need you to listen carefully.”

Meta Knight stared at her with a look of confusion in his eyes, but nodded anyway.

“I am diagnosing you with schizophrenia,” she continued, “do you know what that is?” Meta Knight only continued staring at her with that confusion clouding his eyes and focus, but she continued and she took care to talk slowly, “Schizophrenia is a mental illness that causes the person affected to… see differently… and it mainly causes hallucinations and delusions, which I believe you have been experiencing regularly.”

Wait, but what was she saying? It was muffled and echoey and clear all at the same time. Where was he?

“… so you need to try and watch for that,” she seemed to notice his confusion, “did you hear everything I said?”

He nodded slowly. Bandana gave him a look that indicated her disbelief. Clara also seemed doubtful, “Well, Bandana can always tell you later. Do you mind telling us what happened while we were gone?”

Meta Knight said and did nothing as a response and Clara sighed, “There is nothing we can do if he doesn’t want to tell us,” she turned to face Bandana, “I need to ask you a few questions, do you mind?”

Bandana shook her head, “Of course, not. What do you need to know?”

“I just need to know if he has magic and how strong it is? The medicine reacts strangely in response to powerful magic sometimes.”

“Er… yes, I’m not sure  _ how _ powerful his magic is, he’s never gotten it tested, but it does seem powerful.”

Meta Knight looked at Bandana with a look of offense and practically growled, “My magic will be the bane of your existence.”

Bandana ignored him and Clara asked about what his magic could do. Despite Meta Knight’s protests, Bandana told Clara  _ most _ of what his magic did. She included his teleportation, wind magic, and the fact that he had wizard blood, but excluded shapeshifting, dimensional magic, and Galaxia, his magic sword. Clara told her that the medicine could cause him to lose control of some of his magic and cause some symptoms of illness. Bandana thanked Clara and both Meta Knight and Bandana left.

In Bandana’s newly fixed car she turned towards Meta Knight and started yelling, “What is wrong with you?! Why won’t you tell me anything?! Why are you acting so off?! Why can’t you ever just be normal?!?!”

Meta Knight’s pointed ears were flattened and his eyes were a bright white that melted into a pale yellow, which indicated fear, not that he knew how timid he looked, “I-I’m sorry…”

“Then why can’t you just cooperate?!”

“My father came!” Meta Knight yelled back at her screaming, “He showed up and clipped my wings! Are you happy yet?!”

Bandana’s expression became somber, “Meta, I-I’m sorry. I didn’t know…”

After a pause, Bandana began to drive them both to Meta Knight’s apartment, where they would both wait for until they had to head to work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First appearance of The Nightmare Wizard! I’m sure you all can’t wait until he dies! I’ll get back to Dedede and Taranza next chapter, y’know to lighten the mood!
> 
> Oh no, not the touchy-feely hallucinations! I hope I conveyed Meta's confusion well near the end there...
> 
> What do you know? It’s Mr. Fact-i-o:
> 
> Meta Knight doesn’t seem very expressive to most people, but his ears and eyes give away lots of emotion if you know him well.
> 
> *there was a new eye color in this chapter, but what does it mean? Simple! Pale yellow is fear! (You will not believe how long it took me to try and find a color to be fear, I even resorted to asking my classmate and teacher.)
> 
> *his ears will flick up if he heard something (might be a good way for the others to tell if he’s having an auditory hallucination) or is ticked or is surprised sometimes.
> 
> *if his ears are held up, he is alert and most likely listening for something.
> 
> *when his ears are flattened, it could mean that he is scared or embarrassed/shy.
> 
> *when his ears are drooping, it is a sign he is probably tired or sad.
> 
> *similar to his eyes, Meta Knight can’t really tell when his ears are showing emotion.
> 
> Did anyone catch that I never actually called The Nightmare Wizard “Nightmare”? The Nightmare Wizard’s first name is NOT Nightmare. Nightmare is his last name and he is the second-youngest person, and oldest living person, that is part of the Nightmare Bloodline. The youngest alive is Meta Knight, which means his last name is Nightmare! Duh duh dun! And no his name isn’t Meta Nightmare. You weirdos. ( ͠° ͟ʖ ͡°)
> 
> In this universe, being part of the Nightmare Bloodline is a huge deal because it’s like royalty to the Majic people because the Nightmare Bloodline created the Majic culture. Being The Nightmare Wizard is like being a king and the world’s most powerful wizard.
> 
> The Magic Test was mentioned in this chapter. The Magic Test is just a test taken to put a number to the test taker’s magical abilities. Meta Knight has never taken it, so he has no Magic Test Score. Characters like Magolor have taken the Magic Test and he has good scores too.
> 
> I can’t wait until Magolor shows up! So how about a Maggie fact? Magolor is a Neko:
> 
> *In this world, there are Kajjit, Meifwa, and Nekos. Kajjit are full cat humanoid people with fur and everything. Meifwa are more human-like, but have cat ears, tail, sharp nails, and whiskers, and are sometimes more Kajjit than “human”, but are the half-”human” half-Kajjit. Nekos are less than half-Kajjit and normally only have ears, sharper teeth, and sometimes serpentine pupils.
> 
> *With the ears always comes better hearing. The eyes always give better night vision.
> 
> *Magolor has the ears, sharper teeth, and the serpentine pupils.
> 
> *Kajjit are covered in fur, so they tend to wear less clothing than most people. The males often only wear pants and the females often only wear pants and a top that at least covers their chest.
> 
> Dedede is the most immature of Bandana, Meta Knight, and him. He makes the most jokes in general. When he makes an inappropriate joke, Bandana usually gets them and gives him a look. Meta Knight doesn’t get them most of the time and when he does his eyes will turn pink and he sometimes laughs, that’s the only time Bandana enjoys inappropriate jokes.
> 
> In Majic culture they use our Japanese honorifics (like Chan, Sama, Senpai), so Meta Knight will sometimes accidentally call someone with an honorific. When the three first became friends, Meta Knight called Bandana “Chan” and Dedede “San”. After he knew them a little better, he called Bandana with “Sama” and Dedede with “Senpai”. 
> 
> *Senpai means someone above you socially and not a male lover, it is what you would call an upperclassman in school.
> 
> *Sama means that you look up to the person socially and is the more formal version of San, it is what you would call your boss at work.
> 
> *Chan means someone below you typically and is like San, but you’re calling them cute, it is what you would call a short First Year (Freshman) if you are a year or more ahead of them… or what you call your female lover. If you call someone Chan not as an honorific, it translates to “Sweetie” as in a lover.
> 
> *San is the most basic honorific and means someone of equal or lower status than you, it is what you would call a classmate in the same year and if you are not friends with them.
> 
> *In real life you drop the honorifics once you know the person well enough, but in the Majic culture, you should always call someone with an honorific. (I’ll list more honorifics for you as they come up.)
> 
> Lol, I was so confused for a while why no one was leaving comments about The Nightmare Wizard showing up, then I remembered that this chapter and the last chapter weren’t up yet.


	11. "Time to Plan the Song?" "Hey, What's That Over There?" - Dedede

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I got a little side-tracked when writing this chapter, hence the name.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Back to Taranza and Dedede! This chapter takes place on Saturday, the first chapter was Tuesday, the last few were Thursday. I’m just letting you know that I skipped Friday.
> 
> Also, yay! The first appearance of Sectonia! I’ve never actually written Taranza and Sectonia before this story, I don’t know if you could tell.
> 
> WARNING: Meta Knight gets a little speciest in this chapter, which is this world’s version of being racist! This chapter also goes from 0 to 100 real fast because of that! There is lots of swearing in this chapter compared to others, but it is all censored.

Dedede sat, waiting, in the Florian Floral Café. He was waiting for Taranza so that they could go to work on the song for Sectonia. Dedede looked up from his cup of coffee and thought he saw Taranza, but upon closer inspection, it was actually Sectonia.

Sectonia’s skin was as dark as Taranza’s, and her hair was white with hot pink tips. Her horns weren’t as sharp or long as Taranza’s, but they still looked like they could skewer a small mouse. She only had four extra hands floating around her in comparison to Taranza’s six extra hands, a result of her only being part Spyder. Her shirt had a purple base with pink lines surrounding a rare flower that was also pink. She had on high-heels that were accented with a silver color. And each of the gloves on her hands had pink-tipped fingers.

“Well hello Dedede,” when she spoke, she presented an accent like that of an ancient ruler, “I haven’t seen you or the others for a while. How is Dreamland?”

Her tone was cute and sweet. Two of her extra hands folded together and she extended her arm to shake Dedede’s hand.

As he shook her hand, he spoke, “Heya Sectonia, Dreamland is doing okay… but you know how all that’s goin’, what with the pandemic and everything…”

“Yes, I agree. The Café doesn’t make nearly as much as it used to.” She sighed, “I bet the whole budget thing stresses poor Meta Knight out.”

“Yeah, but we finally got him a psychiatrist!”

“Oh, good for you!” She smiled sweetly, her small, white fangs poking out from her lip just a little bit, “So, did you need something from me and Tarny?”

“No, nothin’,” Dedede shrugged, “I was just waitin’ for Taranza to get off, so that we could go and wr… er… ‘bro out’?”

Sectonia’s micro-expression changed to skepticism, but she seemed to buy it, “Well I hope you two have fun, I have to get back in the kitchen.”

Dedede suddenly sprang up from his seat and called to Sectonia, “Wait! Before you go, can I get a macaroni to go? Fer Meta Knight.”

“Of course, but didn’t he just have that?”

“We found out that he threw it away and we’ve been trying to get him to eat…”

“Oh, I’m sorry…” She turned right back towards the kitchen and called back to him, “I’ll have that out as soon as I can.”

She walked into the kitchen and Dedede saw Taranza’s head poke out of the employe back room and storage. Dedede signaled to the dark-skinned man that he could come over. Taranza sat down next to Dedede with a Starbucks cup in one of his many hands.

“Hey, what’s up?” Taranza traded the cup with one of his free-floating hands so that his normal hands were free.

“Nothing, I asked Sectonia to get a macaroni for Meta.” Dedede turned to make sure Sectonia was still in the kitchen, she was, “I want to tell her so bad!” He whisper-yelled, “Why did you tell  _ me _ ?!”

Taranza whispered back, “You seemed like you could help me out the most.”

“But I’m terrible with secrets!”

“But you’re friends with Meta Knight… doesn’t that mean that you are automatically good at keeping secrets?”

“No!” Dedede sighed, but continued their hushed conversation, “Do you have any lyrics yet?”

“Not much, but I have a list of words that rhyme,” he pulled out a piece of paper with some words scrawled on it, “Do you have any experience with songwriting?”

“Never written a song in my life!” Dedede called out in a normal voice. Taranza shushed him and they continued their hushed conversation until Sectonia came out and gave Dedede the macaroni and gave Taranza a kiss on the cheek. Sectonia bid them good-bye and they left to head to Meta Knight’s apartment.

* * *

“Dedede. Taranza.” Meta Knight greeted them when he opened the door, “What are you both doing here?”

Dedede looked down at the stitching at the corners of Meta Knight’s jacket, “We came to give you something… and ask for your help.”

Taranza’s expression became shocked, “ _ He’s _ going to help us?”

“Yeah, he is…” Dedede rubbed the back of his neck.

Meta Knight’s head tilted slightly and his eyes turned a lime-green for a second, indicating he was puzzled, “What am I helping you with?”

“I’ll tell you when I’m watching you eat.”

Meta Knight only continued staring at Dedede, “You came here… to force me to eat? I’m not hungry.”

“Oh yes, you are!” Dedede nearly yelled at the small man in front of him, “No one has seen you eat for ages!”

Meta Knight growled, “Fine…”

Dedede nearly cheered. He finally got Meta Knight to agree to eat! His smile faded as he noticed Meta Knight giving Taranza a death stare, “Oh, right… Taranza…”

Meta Knight sighed, “No, it’s fine… you have to watch me…”

Bandana had told Dedede, Sword, and Blade that Meta Knight had to be watched as much as possible. Sword, Blade, and Bandana were all at work, so that left Dedede to watch him and try to get him to eat. But he had brought Taranza, a person who has never seen his face, and Meta Knight didn’t trust Taranza as much as he trusted the four of them.

Nevertheless, the three of them still sat down at the kitchen table. Meta Knight slowly removed his mask to eat and Taranza’s mouth hung open, “What the- _ that’s  _ what you look like?!”

Meta Knight’s brow furrowed, “What the- _ that’s _ -”

Dedede quickly covered Meta Knight’s mouth before he could finish whatever rude insult he had thought of. Meta Knight removed Dedede’s large hand from his mouth and gave him a dirty glare.

Taranza apologized, “I’m sorry, it’s just that I didn’t expect you to look so… child-like.”

“Well, it’s what I get for being half-f**king-Puffball.” Meta Knight rolled his eyes and began poking the macaroni with his fork.

“Meta Knight, what have I told you about insulting an entire species? Especially with your bad tongue?” Dedede chided the much smaller man.

Meta Knight sighed, “To not because it’s speciest…”

“Good,” Dedede watched Meta Knight poke the food in front of him once more, “now take a bite, you said you would eat it.”

* * *

Dedede told Meta Knight about their plan to write a song for Sectonia for Taranza’s proposal as he kept visibly forcing the food down his throat. After he finished eating, and Dedede finished explaining, Meta Knight told him that he hadn’t written a song since High School. This revelation left Taranza with his mouth hanging open once more.

“Wait, you’re saying that  _ you _ wrote  _ songs _ ?!”

Meta Knight gave Taranza a glare from behind his mask after he put it back on, “Close your mouth, honey, the flies are getting out.”

“What did you say!?”

“I said your lunch is getting away.”

“I do not eat flies just because I’m a Spyder!” A few of Taranza’s free-floating hands balled into fists and he smacked his hands on the table and stood. Despite Taranza towering over Meta Knight, the latter did not even flinch.

“But your mom does.”

Dedede quickly grabbed hold of Meta Knight and pushed back Taranza, “Meta Knight! What did we jus’ talk ‘bout bein’ speciest?!”

Meta Knight didn’t  _ say _ anything in response, but he  _ did _ give Dedede the middle finger. Dedede smacked Meta Knight’s hand down and yelled in his face in response, “What the h*ll is wrong with you?! You were fine jus’ a second ago!”

Meta Knight struggled in Dedede’s grip, “Yeah, that was before you kept repeating how much you hate me! So f**k you too!”

“I never said anything about me hatin’ you… Meta Knight, are you okay?”

Taranza had calmed down by now, and he excused himself to go to the bathroom because he could most likely tell that this was supposed to be a more private exchange.

Meta Knight didn’t even try to turn and look at Dedede, “Yes, yes, everything is just fine! Why wouldn’t everything be fine?!”

“Are you hearin’ voices?” Dedede asked as softly as he could, but, alas, he did not have the kindest and softest voice in the world.

“No, but f**k you, f**k Bandana, f**k your restaurant, f**k everything…”

“Meta Knight… can’t you tell me what’s wrong?”

Meta Knight then broke down screaming in Majjic at Dedede, “ _ No! I won’t tell you, I won’t tell Bandana, I won’t tell anyone! You are trying to kill me and I still ate your food for you?! Why are you not happy yet?! Why must you cause me to suffer farther?! Haven’t I done enough of that yet?! _ ”

Dedede, having no idea what he had just said, attempted to comfort the shaking and sobbing man in his arms, “Er… it’s okay?”

“ _ No… it’s not… _ ” Meta Knight shook his head, “Can you and Taranza please go? I don’t want to help you…”

Dedede looked down at the small man, “No, but…” he sighed, “okay… but make sure you show up at work to help Bandana, it’s Saturday.”

  
To Dedede’s surprise, Meta Knight  _ did _ show up to work and with no new injuries! Maybe he was getting better already?  _ Ha, ha, nope. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wonder why Meta Knight’s mood changed so drastically? Could he have heard something Dedede and Taranza didn’t? 
> 
> I don’t know if it’s clear, but that “Ha, ha, nope” isn’t Dedede. All of my stories are actually narrated by an OC named Narrator, unless it’s a first-person story.
> 
> Unfortunately, you won’t be getting a “meanwhile” chapter for what happened to Meta Knight when he was alone. I’m just going to leave it up to your *insert “Imagination” rainbow here*. But it was nothing good, FYI.
> 
> Facts, facts, facts!:
> 
> Meta Knight is a little speciest because he was just sort of generally raised that way, d*nm Nightmare Wizard.
> 
> Dedede’s country accent does become more prominent if he’s angry, sometimes if he’s happy.
> 
> The three of them were in a garage band in high school together:
> 
> *Meta Knight had written a song for this purpose.
> 
> *Each of them plays at least one instrument. Dedede played drums. Bandana can play a piano and learned a keyboard and can sing decently. Meta Knight can play almost any type of guitar and can sing decently.
> 
> *They stayed a garage band in Dedede’s garage because Bandana and Meta Knight are too shy to perform anything, they couldn’t even get Meta Knight to sing in front of them.
> 
> *Dedede and Bandana learned Meta Knight could sing only when they eavesdropped on him playing a tune on his guitar and singing in Majjic to it.
> 
> *Bandana was never confident in her singing, but Dedede always told her that she was, at least, better than him.
> 
> Meta Knight was kept under lots of control by his father, and still is, to the point where he never even really thought that he has a mother. He does know that he must have a mother by now, but he’s not sure when he realized that and doesn’t know who she is or if his father would have had her killed… just seems like something he would do.
> 
> Facts are shorter in this chapter because I need some time to think up some more and check to see what I have already put. Okay, bye-bye now!


	12. Sunday - Bandana

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's almost time for them to head to Dedede's house.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally, I got to Sunday.
> 
> And I get to have the four of them together! :D
> 
> P.S. Sorry if you saw the notes I had on the Among Us fics and got excited, but I'm not going to do that anymore. Maybe when I get another random spike of interest.

All three of them, Dedede, Meta Knight, and Bandana, stood in Dreamland inside the manager’s office. Well, more accurately,  _ two _ of them were standing and one was sitting. Dedede kept glancing back at the computer as he held his conversation with the other two. Bandana kept laughing at the idea of Meta Knight making plans. Meta Knight mostly stayed quiet, offering input only when he was directly spoken to.

Bandana headed out to the soda fountain to get the three of them drinks. As she was popping the lid on her and Meta Knight’s drink, the door to the restaurant opened. She began speaking before she looked up to inform the person that they are closed Sundays. When she saw the person, she saw pink hair, blue eyes, and a yellow star barrette.

“Oh,” Bandana said as she recognized the person as Kirby, “Hey Kirby… we’re still closed…”

Kirby put his hand to the back of his neck and responded, “Yeah, I know, but my mom is dealing with someone that she doesn’t want me around, so she dropped me off at the mall.”

“Hmm… is it one of her patients?”

“Yeah,” Kirby nodded, “She says he’s not very nice, but he seemed  _ really  _ nice when I met him that one time. I think his name was something like Mark? Anyway, what are you doing?”

Bandana finished popping the lids on her and Meta Knight’s drinks, then began walking over to the bar to get Dedede’s drink, “I’m just getting Meta Knight, Dedede, and myself some drinks. Do you want something?” Bandana noticed Kirby’s hesitant look, “Don’t worry, Dedede’s drink is the only one with any alcohol, and he’s over 21.”

“Sure!” Kirby nodded happily, “Can I get myself a soda?”

“Right over there,” Bandana finished pouring Dedede’s drink and turned towards the office, “We’ll be in the office when you’re done.”

Bandana reentered the office to see Dedede doing the opposite of why they were here. Dedede was playing Solitare as Meta Knight told him what moves to make. Bandana rolled her eyes and put the cups on the desk and loudly cleared her throat. They both turned to her, Dedede with a look on his face that made him look like a child that was caught with his hand in the cookie jar and Meta Knight’s eyes were a pale yellow with fear.

She rolled her eyes again and laughed, “Have you gotten through an entire game yet?”

Dedede’s expression relaxed and he laughed with her, “Nope!”

Meta Knight’s eyes did not meld back to a bright yellow and his ears flattened, “He’s hopeless…”

Dedede laughed louder, but Bandana kept her eyes trained to Meta Knight’s eyes that should’ve gone back to yellow by now. They only paled farther at Dedede’s loud laugh. That would’ve been normal, except for the fact that they stayed that color. He had seemed fine, maybe even happy last night. She thought he was getting better, why was he so scared?

“Meta Knight is there-”

“Hai!” Kirby called out to the three of them with a soda in his hand, cutting Bandana off. If Bandana hadn’t thought that Meta Knight’s eyes were odd, she would have  _ definitely _ found it odd that he didn’t try to see what she had to say.

Dedede looked at Kirby, “Erm… hey? You were the new host, right?”

“Yep! That’s me,” he pointed his thumb towards himself, “Kirby!”

“Whatcha’ doing here?” Dedede asked.

Kirby shrugged, “I wanted to see you guys, I guess. My mom also doesn’t want me around one of her clients.”

“Eh, fine.” Dedede turned back to the Solitaire game and made the worst move he possibly could, making Meta Knight face-palm, “But we were about to head out…”

“Oh… so I guess I’ll see you when I work next…” Kirby hung his head sadly.

Bandana elbowed Dedede, “Wait, Kirby. We were all going to hang out together, and you can come with us if you want! Don’t listen to fat-boy here!”

Dedede gave her a look as Kirby’s expression brightened to the largest smile ever, “Yay! If we’re leaving now, I’ll go wait in the dining room! I’m so excited!”

After Kirby ran out, Dedede turned to Bandana, “It’s my house, and I say he can’t come.”

“But his mom is providing Meta Knight’s medicine and is his psychiatrist. We have to stay in his good graces to keep that.”

Dedede sighed, “Alright, fine, but it’s only for Meta here!” He put his large hand on the top of the small man’s head, who didn’t make any move to get it off, surprisingly. They finished up their drinks and the computer work and met Kirby to head to Dedede’s house. Where many things would happen. 

_ It was just a matter of time until everything would fly south for the winter. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cliff-hanger?! Nooooooo!
> 
> I was going to not make this a cliff-hanger, but it’s too good of a cliff-hanger to pass up! I also wanted to get out a new chapter for you patient readers. Besides, if this chapter is a cliff-hanger, then maybe the scary part of the Revenge of Meta Knight arch will come out on Halloween… however, my life never goes *that* good… (・・；)
> 
> That last line was a half-baked attempt at a joke BTW.
> 
> Facts? Facts? Did you just say… Facts?:
> 
> Favorite seasons and holidays of the quartet:
> 
> *Kirby’s favorite season is spring because he loves the spring breeze… yes this is coming from the game series. His favorite holidays are Christmas and Easter because he loves when people are nice to other people.
> 
> *Dedede’s favorite season is summer because that’s the time you get to go on vacation and be lazy, so he likes summer even if he can’t take *too* much heat. His favorite holidays are Christmas and his friends’ birthdays because he loves to give the people he loves gifts, even if most people always saw him as greedy it always was justified.
> 
> *Bandana’s favorite season is autumn because she loves the warm colors and she loves wearing sweaters. Her favorite holidays are the winter solstice and her own birthday because she knows Meta Knight would rather it be dark for longer and Dedede and Meta Knight always go *all out* for her birthday event and it always ends in a memorable situation. (Like that one time they got stuck in a roller coaster at the highest part.)
> 
> *Meta Knight’s favorite season is winter because he loves the cold and it’s darker longer. Unlike the others, he HATES Christmas and strongly dislikes his own birthday, causing Bandana and Dedede to try and cheer him up to like each holiday every year. His favorite holidays are, unsurprisingly, Halloween and Easter (minus the Easter Bunny), the two chocolate goliaths.
> 
> Small UPDATE: Ahhh!!! 500 hits!!! Thank you all so much!!! (Technically 501 when I'm writing this, but 501 hits doesn't sound as good as 500 hits, you know what I'm saying?)


	13. Hang Out - Bandana - Meta Knight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nothing could ever go wrong here! :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the first chapter with a switching POV, the chapters would be too short if I split it with the POVs this time. Also:
> 
> WARNING: This chapter (and probably the next) will contain heavy/dark themes and what I think is classified as heavy drama. You have been warned.

Dedede’s house was two stories tall and very nice. The yard looked as though it was constantly taken care of and the outer walls were a creamy tan. Dedede’s car pulled into his driveway just before Bandana’s. Kirby got out of Dedede’s car and Bandana tried one more time to get Meta Knight to say anything at all.

“Look, Meta, you haven’t said a single thing since we left the restaurant,” she sighed, “can you please just tell me what’s wrong and why you look so scared?”

He didn’t say anything but he shifted uncomfortably and opened the car’s door to get out. Bandana sighed and got out as Dedede began walking up to his front door. Dedede unlocked the door and waved them all inside.

Inside, his house was not the most furnished, but it was very cozy and nice. The entrance opened to face a small lounge area and the stairs to the second floor. Dedede lead them into the kitchen, which seemed very small compared to the rest of the house. The kitchen was also connected with a living room that had a very large couch and flat-screen TV. The roofs of the house seemed high for a two-story house.

“Wow,” Kirby said with whimsical bliss, “Your house is so nice!”

“Ehh…” Dedede spoke as he opened a cabinet and pulled out a large bowl and handed it to Bandana, which made her happy, “Thanks, but it kinda happens when yer parents are proud of you and business owners.”

Bandana squinted at Dedede’s showing off to Kirby. Dedede obviously doesn’t like the pink-haired boy very much, but Bandana just rolled her eyes and began looking for Dedede’s chocolate cake mix, “Dedede, where’s your cake mix? It’s not where it normally is.”

Instead of Dedede answering, Meta Knight practically jumped into the cabinet, despite his vertical challenges, and began searching for the mix himself. When he came out of the cabinet, his ears were drooping, “We have no cake… this is the worst day…”

Kirby smiled brightly, “You like cake?! I love cake!”

Dedede laughed and took the opportunity to poke some fun, “Yep, shorty-mic-short stuff here loves any and all sweets!”

“I most certainly do not,” Meta Knight crossed his arms, “and I am not short!”

Bandana giggled, “I’ve never seen you deny sweets of any kind, and oh yeah, you’re short, one hundred percent.”

Bandana noticed Meta Knight’s eye brighten for a moment to, almost, their original color. Meta Knight caught Bandana’s gaze and his eyes reverted to an even paler yellow than before, but it still went unnoticed by Dedede and Kirby, the latter of which was not expected to notice.

Bandana suggested that Kirby and Dedede go get some cake mix from the store, while she and Meta Knight stayed here. It was a perfect plan, really. It was a chance for Dedede to try and warm up to Kirby while also giving her more time to try and get Meta Knight to tell her what was wrong. Luckily for her, Dedede caught the air of “do this or I will kill you with your pillow” that she was setting off, so he had left with Kirby and she and Meta Knight were alone.

* * *

Both Meta Knight and Bandana sat on the couch. Meta Knight avoided looking at Bandana at all, who was surely trying to catch his gaze. He heard her sigh and get up, probably to get the coffee that they were preparing.

He turned to watch her pour the coffee and a generous amount of sweet cream into his. He still felt like there was something wrong with the coffee. The person trying to kill him was preparing his drink. It would surely be idiotic to consume anything in that cup. Until she had topped it with whipped cream and sprinkles, that is.

He watched her put the cup of sweet caffeine down in front of him and she whispered, “The creamer was chocolate flavored.”

Was? Wait, why  _ was _ ? Did that mean it was poison flavored now? Wait, Dedede and Kirby were getting cake mix of a cake he was planning to eat. What if Dedede poisoned the cake mix to work with the poison in the coffee?

It would surely be idiotic to drink any of the coffee in the cup-  _ Nova d*mnit! _ It was far too delicious and sweet for him to resist.

He reluctantly took the cup of sweet caffeine and began drinking it. Bandana smiled, “I tried to make it sweet for you, with everything that’s going on… are you okay?”

Meta Knight refused to meet her gaze, but still answered her in a quiet voice, “Why do you want to hurt me so bad?”

Bandana had to lean towards him to hear his voice, “H-hurt you-”

“Why do you hate me so much?” Despite his better interests, he felt a tear roll down the side of his face and drip onto his jeans. Bandana stood up and sat down next to him. She wrapped one arm around him and began swaying to rock the other to calm him down the best she could.

It had been working too. Until, after a while of silence, Bandana said, “I would never hurt you, both me and Dedede love you.”

After she said that, a thought popped into his head:

_ She didn’t specify Dedede wouldn’t hurt him and what if she was lying? _

That’s it, if she had been lying to him for so long, surely she was still lying to him. She was trying to put him into a false sense of security, that was it. If she had always been lying, then why would she stop?

_ She hates you, he hates you, and both want you gone. Gone permanently. _

The words were strong and those words were right. He believed everything coming from those words. She was lying. Both of them hate him. Both of them want him dead. Maybe he could convince them otherwise?

_ You can’t do anything. You were grown in fear and violence and it is the only thing you will ever amount to. You can’t do anything else and you are nothing without it. _

He believed it. He had grown up with such a concept. Nothing can be accomplished without violence and it was time to start protecting himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If anything, Bandana’s worst choice in this entire series was in this chapter. What was that decision? It wasn’t saying they loved him and didn’t want to hurt him. It was giving Meta Knight coffee. I shall now explain why her choice was so bad and why Meta Knight’s hallucinations and delusions just spiked:
> 
> Coffee contains caffeine, which is a psychoactive drug, which is why coffee keeps us awake. Caffeine stimulates your senses and enhances dopamine signaling in the brain. Dopamine is the chemical in the brain that its oversupply is linked with schizophrenia. It also inhibits other chemicals, but I won’t get into that and science you to death, but, hey now you can brag to your friends that you know how coffee works! Enjoy the fact that you can do that :)
> 
> Yes, I did say Facts, would you like them with or without nuts?:
> 
> Characters that are planned to show up’s favorite shows:
> 
> *Kirby doesn’t have a favorite anything (except maybe a favorite food group) because he believes everything is equal and should be treated equally. He does, however, mostly watch cartoons and cutesy anime. (Btw, anime in this world is not necessarily Japanese because Majjic is Japanese, so instead, anime is a Popstarian cartoon most of the time. I said most of the time for a reason, it’s really just a style of show in this universe and can really be anything, whereas cartoons are more cartoonishly drawn and targeted more towards kids.)
> 
> *Bandana likes watching reality TV shows, like “The Masked Singer”, “Nailed It”, and “90 Day Fiancé”, and also watches tennis matches sometimes.
> 
> *Dedede enjoys a few of the reality shows that Bandana watches, like “Nailed It”, and also enjoys watching sports with his friends, even if neither of them get the sports he watches they will still be there just to be there and hang out as friends.
> 
> *Meta Knight enjoys watching Majjic anime and shows because he understands them more than Popstarian shows most of the time (they also tend to be edgier), but he also watches “Nailed It” with the others. What? I needed them all to enjoy one show together for non-plot-related-purposes, besides “Nailed It” is the greatest cooking show of all time. The one crafting episode did not satisfy me.
> 
> *Taranza enjoys nature shows, like stuff on “National Geographic”, and reality shows that he watches with Sectonia.
> 
> *Seconia doesn’t watch much of any nature shows but enjoys reality shows.
> 
> *Gee I wonder who this fantastic Mark guy might be, I have no idea who he might be, but he sounds like he would enjoy true crime shows, like “Live PD” (rip :( ), “The Forensic Files”, and “The Murder Tapes”.
> 
> *Magolor enjoys Popstarian anime and Halcandrian reality shows (similar to Meta Knight, he understands Halcandrian better). He watches happy animes and good animes… and “Atack on Titan” and “My Hero Academia” don’t @ me on this I just don’t like your “Atack on Titan” and “My Hero Academia”, be happy I wrote you people characters that like those shows.
> 
> *Susie enjoys documentary shows about innovations and technology and true crime shows, gee I wonder why?
> 
> That’s all for now because those are the characters that I know 1.) Y’all know about and 2.) Watch TV.
> 
> R.I.P. dear “Live PD” may we have a moment of silence? …


	14. Prologue's Epilogue - Meta Knight - Dedede

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The hangout reaches its climax.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I’ve been dead for a while. Luckily, I know a necromancer or two! ;)
> 
> I promise-I swear I didn’t forget to upload all the chapters on my computer multiple times! Because that’s definitely NOT what happened!
> 
> This chapter… did NOT flow nicely… and has been the most difficult chapter to write for me… :( (only for a bit though, it got better. :D)
> 
> At least I get to go into Triple Deluxe next and perform some building with Super Star (original), sadly I have not played Triple Deluxe, so it will be fun (not really). :D
> 
> WARNING: I was right, this chapter will have heavy/dark themes and what I think is called heavy drama.

“Meta!” Bandana called him as he snapped back to reality, “Did you hear me?”

He blinked,  _ no _ , “Yes.”

She stared at him for a little bit before sighing and shaking her head, “Okay, fine,” she flicked on the large TV and opened up Dedede’s Hulu, and went into her account, “So then… what do you want to watch?”

Meta Knight looked at the titles on the screen of Bandana’s recommended. He was unfamiliar with most of the titles, “You choose.” Bandana rolled her eyes and turned off Hulu. She opened up Netflix and went to  _ Nailed it _ . The new season wasn’t out yet, not that they would ever watch it without Dedede, so they just put on the first episode.

Something was wrong. What did it mean? Every so often, like when  _ Nicole Byer  _ explained the panic button, they would make eye contact with him. It was like they were trying to tell him something. Panic…? They were telling him to panic! Right? Wait… when will the cake be done?

Meta Knight turned around, only to find nothing happening in the kitchen. What? “Bandana, what happened to the cake?”

She looked at him for a second before responding, “Huh? No one’s making a cake, Meta. Dedede and Kirby are at the store getting cake mix.”

“Oh…” Meta Knight furrowed his brow, confused. Dedede and Kirby came back though? Didn’t they? He definitely smelled cake being cooked. He turned around again. Still nothing… but he could  _ smell _ it!

“Meta, are you okay?” Bandana asked after seeing him looked back a few more times.

“Who’s making the cake?”

“There is no cake! I just told you that!”

Meta Knight looked back again, no there was one-hundred percent cake, “I  _ smell _ the cake Bandana! Stop trying to distract me from the poison!”

“Huh? Wait, what are you even talking about?” She paused the TV.

“The cake! What other-f**king-thing could I be talking about?!” He angrily yelled.

“Meta, calm down,” she tried to say in a non-threatening voice, “you aren’t making any sense. I think you’re confused or hallucinating or something.”

“I think  _ you’re _ confused, b***h!” He gestured over to the kitchen area, “I can f**king  _ smell _ the Nova-d*mned cake!”

“There is _no_ _cake_!” Bandana yelled back at him, “Just calm down and let me show you!”

“Who is making the cake?!”

“I’m going to make the cake when Dedede and Kirby are back with the cake mix!”

Meta Knight lowered his head, “I knew it, you are a liar.” He reached his hand deep into his jacket, far deeper than any normal jacket would let his hand go. Bandana’s eye widened with terror when he pulled out a shining gold blade that was sharper than any average blade and able to cut through nearly anything. Galaxia, it was called.

“M-Meta,” Bandana pleaded when they made eye contact, “wh-what are you doing?”

He gave her a sinister smile under his mask and spoke as his thoughts were clouded, “I play the reverse card.”

He began growling as he was given instructions to dismember her to be safe and worthy. He didn’t care what she had to say. She was the one that had been trying to hurt him, so he would return the favor. He wanted the voices gone. He wanted her gone. He wanted him gone.

He raised the sword and thrust it into the cushions right behind Bandana, leaving a cut on her cheek and the first spike just centimeters away from her face. Bandana looked from the sword to Meta Knight to his eyes. She wanted something from him, but he didn’t know what.

At that moment, the two heard the door open and Dedede exclaim, “Cake time!” Bandana had turned away from Meta Knight for a second and when she looked back to where he was, he was gone.

Honestly, Meta Knight loved teleportation. He was able to watch Bandana freak out and frantically look around. He was able to watch Bandana panic to Dedede. He was able to watch Dedede notice Bandana’s bleeding cut and start freaking out as well.

_ Now go strike. Kill them now. While their backs are turned. While they don’t know where you are. _

_ Reveal yourself, then surprise them. Take them out in confusion. _

_ Kill them, then kill yourself. It’s the only way. _

Meta Knight clutched Galaxia to his chest, not caring about the deep cut sliced into his right palm. He put his left hand to the floor and walked to the edge of the counter he hid behind while crouching down. He crept to the corner and looked around it, seeing Bandana leave to look upstairs with Kirby for him. That left Dedede alone.

Meta Knight’s jacket slowly transformed into his wings, getting ready to pounce on his prey. His wings remained against his back only slightly opened for greater mobility and to keep himself concealed.

* * *

Dedede picked up the couch cushion then put it down, “Yeah, he probly won’t be under there…”

Dedede turned once and hummed to himself, unsure of where to look for his friend. He heard something in the kitchen that sounded like the distinct sound of Meta Knight’s wings coming out, “Gee… wonder where my favorite  _ little _ tiny guy in the world could be?”

He turned around when he heard feet touch the ground behind him and found Meta Knight with his wings spread out behind him and a knife in his hand. His long sleeve shirt was obviously flecked with dried blood at the underside of his right arm. He growled slightly, “I am  _ not _ little.”

Inside, Dedede was completely freaking out, but he had to stay calm on the outside to get Meta Knight to trust him again, “Hey, come on, ya are a  _ little _ little,” he shrugged to help himself keep his cool, “Just calm down, Meta. Bandana can make the cake and we can all talk this through, right? That’s all you want, right?”

Dedede took a step forward and Meta Knight tensed. He looked at the larger man’s eyes and saw no ill intent. Meta Knight relaxed as he watched Dedede’s eyes and listened to his voice. Dedede knew that the same memory was playing just behind their eyes:

* * *

_ A teenage Dedede circled a teenage Meta Knight, “What’s wrong, short stuff? Cat got your tongue?” _

_ The smaller teen scoffed, “Your one-liners are stupid. Try practicing in the mirror more.” _

_ The teenage Dedede’s expression melted into a furious scowl, “You’ll regret ever coming here.” The larger teen charged at the smaller one, who sidestepped out of the way. Dedede pulled out a knife and furiously tried to stab Meta Knight. The smaller one ended up pinning the larger one down and punched him in his large gut. The knife in Dedede’s hand aimed itself at Meta Knight’s neck and began moving, slowly, towards his neck. _

_ “Dedede! What the  _ heck _ are you doing?!”  _

_ Both of the teens on the ground looked up at Dedede’s closest friend, Bandana, who was nothing more than a little eighth-grader, “B-Bandee?” _

_ She put her hands on her hips like a sassy little anime girl, which she was getting way too into, “Don’t call me that and I told you that he’s not worth it. He’s smaller than you!” _

_ Dedede pushed the smaller teen off of him and stood up. He apologized to Bandana, who kept telling him off, “Now tell  _ him _ you’re sorry.” _

_ Dedede sighed and held out his hand to Meta Knight, “Sorry… but you are pretty strong, y’know.” _

_ “I do know.” _

_ Dedede nodded a little and turned around. While his back was turned, Bandana got right next to Meta Knight and hissed in his face, “If you ever come close to him  _ or _ me, I  _ will _ beat your a*s. It’s not a threat, it’s a promise.” _

_ She turned around and followed after her older friend. Meta Knight just rolled his eyes and disappeared into the trees of the forest clearing their fight had been held at. _

* * *

Now, Meta Knight was the one with the knife. The only difference was that the one who had won in the past unarmed was stronger  _ and _ armed. Dedede looked at the floor as the knife clattered to the floor and Meta Knight’s entire body seemed to shake.

Meta Knight spoke slowly, “I… do want that,” his voice became a growl, “I just don’t deserve it.” He looked up at Dedede with his eyes a harsh red. The smaller person was now holding Galaxia, who had been retrieved from some unknown storage space, and he held her to Dedede’s neck. Dedede gasped and felt his heart nearly ready to burst from his chest.

To Dedede’s luck, Bandana and Kirby came down from upstairs just in time. The former stopped in her tracks and stared in terror while the latter stepped forward and spoke, “Wait… what’s wrong? Meta, what are you doing?”

Meta Knight flinched at the sound of Kirby’s voice but didn’t look over at the younger Puffball. Dedede felt trickles of a warm liquid trail down his neck and realized that Galaxia was beginning to cut into his throat. He instantly became aware of the pain from the cut he could not see. He groaned as he bit back a scream.  _ Men don’t cry, scream, or wine _ , his father would always tell him.

Kirby’s face blanched and his hands balled into little shaking fists as he seemed to finally see reality and its problems. He yelled, “ _ Stop _ !”

Dedede saw Meta Knight’s head whip around to face the shaking, pink boy, “Why should I if they want to kill me?”

“Because you’re a good person and they love you. I can’t say how I feel about you yet, but you seem so nice and-and friendly, even if you have some problems. We all have problems. Dedede has feelings of self-doubt, Bandana can be overly terrified of something, and even I have an issue where I ignore problems even if I’m aware of their existence. It always makes the problems so much worse in the end and it makes everyone view me as a child. Every single one of us has at least one issue with ourselves or another and that’s okay. You don’t have to be perfect. It would be wrong for a person to be perfect, no matter how much it was pushed onto them. It’s always best to be who you are.”

Dedede felt more hot liquid drip onto him, but not from a cut. Rather, the liquid was tears falling from Meta Knight’s face and out his mask. Galaxia clattered to the floor and Dedede felt as though he could breathe again after Meta Knight let him go.

Kirby spread his arms out and Meta Knight ran into them, accepting Kirby’s offer of an embrace. Meta Knight ripped his mask from his face and threw the cold plate of metal aside. He buried his face into Kirby’s shoulder and cried messily. Meta Knight’s two large wings even wrapped around Kirby as well, who, surprisingly, didn’t seem phased by Meta Knight’s giant bat-looking wings.

Even Bandana and Dedede looked at each other and joined the two in the hug. The four of them stayed like that until Kirby’s phone rang with his mom calling him to come home. 

They may have gone their separate ways, but they would still be known as the Quartet of Kirby, Meta Knight, Dedede, and Bandana.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, Meta Knight did make an Uno Card Game reference.
> 
> Have I ever gotten the chance to write a good ending other than this ending to the Revenge of Meta Knight arch? No. No, not really. This is literally the first happy ending I’ve ever formulated. It’s also the REAL start of the story. Yeah, this entire thing was pretty much a prologue. I hope you enjoyed the depressing with a happy ending prologue! :D
> 
> Facts of a better nature than Facts:
> 
> Birthdays:
> 
> *Despite adamantly hating his birthday, Dedede and Bandana always try to surprise Meta Knight and give him a good birthday, which is March 23rd.
> 
> *Dedede’s birthday is April 27th.
> 
> *Kirby’s birthday is July 16th because reasons.
> 
> *Bandana’s birthday is November 21st. Yes, that is the same release date as Smash Bros Melee. Why? Because Melee is the best one and... BANDANA DEE FOR SMASH!!!! *begins Anarchy*
> 
> *This great Mark guy’s birthday is September 20th. Man, he’s such a great guy!
> 
> *Magolor’s birthday is October 24th.
> 
> *Taranza’s birthday is January 11th.
> 
> *Sectonia’s birthday is May 16th because she’s got some sort of British or French accent.
> 
> Gee, I wonder what the next big reveal could be? So odd that I don’t seem to know. Isn’t that right, Kirby? Meta Knight? Yeah, it is.
> 
> And almost all of those dates are an easter egg that I’m using to show origins, personality, or both (not Kirby’s, that one is nothing, except for maybe some personality). And as for unrevealed characters, eh, if I remember, I’ll give you their birthdates when they show up.
> 
> Hopefully, it won’t be so dark going forwar- *thinks about the events planned* Yeah… it’ll still get dark… *very* dark.


	15. Nervous Poem - Taranza

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Taranza knows it should be now or he may never have the nerve to do it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Time to start building an arch for a game I have never played (I think I’m going to try and do both Triple Deluxe and Milky Way Wishes at the same time)! This also be the first chapter not from the POV of a member of the Quartet! :D
> 
> Also, time skip to the end of November (about, like, 4 or 5 months).
> 
> (Uploaded this from my phone for reasons and I'm not sure if AO3 takes kindly to mobile ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯)

Taranza inhaled and exhaled deeply. He was nervous, very nervous. Two of his magic hands ran their fingers through his hair, straightening it messily. He looked down at the paper in his hand and glanced over it. He sighed as he folded and inserted the paper into his pocket. Those same two magic hands stopped straightening his hair and moved down to brush his clothes off.

Taranza was wearing a green wool sweater and brown skinny jeans with some golden swirls near the bottom and his shoes were nice heeled dress shoes the same color as the night sky above him. He looked at his necklace, a gift to him from his love for his birthday, which was a golden chain with an oval token that had a Dreamstalk Blossom engraved into it. He turned the golden token over a few times.

He chuckled lightly to himself, “Dear Nova, this is the most terrifying thing I’ve ever done.” He anxiously took the paper back out and read over it a few times until he heard footsteps fall on the grass of the surrounding area. He shoved the paper down into his pocket and quickly turned around, “Sectonia! You look gorgeous tonight, my love!”

Sectonia smiled and giggled a little as she joined his side on the bridge overlooking the small pond, “You too, you’ve gone all out this time… is it a special occasion?”

Taranza smiled slyly, “You could say that.” He wrapped his left arm around his girlfriend’s shoulder as a chilly wind broke through the late autumn and caused her dress to billow around her legs. One of his magic left hands reached for her right hand and slipped itself into her grip, “Let’s go on a bit of a walk, Sectonia.”

She smiled sweetly as she nodded and the two of them began walking through the darkening park. They found a nice bench to sit on together and enjoy the food Taranza had brought for them to share. The two Spyders talked to each other and laughed throughout their entire meal and until they had arrived back at the bridge from before. 

The scene was lit up with lightning bugs shining in all different colors. Gold, blue, green, purple, orange, and just about any color you could think of flashed in little bulbs around the two. Taranza knew that now was a better time than ever to show his love how he felt for her.

Sectonia smiled brightly as Taranza kissed her cheek. His hand moved down to grasp his love’s soft, dark hand. One of his magic hands glided over to the right side of her face and brushed her pink and white hair out of her face as he rubbed the side of her cheek.

He took a deep breath, with the paper in his pocket on his mind, “Sectonia, your hair is pure beauty and nothing else can compare. Your figure, well, my eyes always linger. The milk chocolate that makes your face makes me wonder with what my drink was laced. What I’m trying to say is you’re the most beautiful girl ever, night or day. Your laugh makes my stomach flutter and this question makes me nervous as I sweat like butter.” He reached into his other pocket as he landed down on one knee, “Sectonia, will you marry me?”

Sectonia’s smile faded and she gasped and Taranza felt the color fade from his face as he worried he asked the question incorrectly. Taranza jumped a little when Sectonia jumped and sat down next to him, hugging him tightly. He realized she was smiling largely and crystal tears were decorating her lashes. 

She whispered yes into his ear and they kept holding each other for a little longer before they both silently got up and Taranza put the silver and gold ring on Sectonia’s hand for her. They shared their first kiss as an engaged couple and held as many of each other’s hands as they could as they walked to Taranza’s car.

Sectonia smiled slyly, “No wonder you paid for an Uber to get me here.”

Taranza chuckled, “I knew you wouldn’t want to be alone in your car after getting engaged,” Taranza smiled as he sounded like he wasn’t the one marrying her, “does your dad know?”

Sectonia laughed lightly as she got into the passenger side of the car, “So… what’re you getting me for a gift?” She shot him a playful glare, “You wouldn’t’ve asked if you didn’t have anything in mind.”

Tranaza smiled as he put his hand on top of his fiancé’s and drove out of the parking lot towards their house.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know-I know… it’s a poem and not a song. Sorry about that! D:
> 
> I got nothing creative because it’s late, but have some facts any-way:
> 
> Favorite clothes anyone?
> 
> *Dedede enjoys how anything fluffy feels and *loves* when something is heavy. He owns a big, fluffy red coat that he can only really wear on the coldest days of the year, but that doesn’t stop it from being his favorite clothing ever. He will commonly wear it around the house and complain it’s hot.
> 
> *Bandana loves the fall season so much for the sole reason of the colors and the sweater weather. Her favorite outfit is a maroon sweater with brown pants and dark brown boots, if we're just counting the clothes on her body and not the accessories, that is.
> 
> *Kirby is in love with the color pink… not much more can really be said, I suppose. He does love wearing a bag at all times, however. Whether it's a backpack, satchel, or purse, he doesn't care… he just wants a place to put whatever random thing it is that he finds.
> 
> *Meta Knight gets cold easily sometimes and always wearing long sleeves doesn't help him with getting used to the cold. He likes the feeling of protection that having his skin covered gives him and thinks it feels like a hug. He'll never admit to that though, typical lol. He also likes to wear things that are plain because it makes his father upset, once more, typical.
> 
> *Taranza’s favorite color scheme is green, gold, and dark brown, so he often wears a green and brown outfit with golden spider webs embroidered on the clothing. When it gets cold out, he spruces up the gloom by throwing on a red scarf with small, gold flowers embroidered on it.
> 
> *Sectonia enjoys much cooler colors like purple, royal blue, pastel pink, and gold. Instead of the spider webs, her embroidery is a purple and royal blue rose outlined in gold. The pastel pink is in her makeup and she wears golden spider web earrings. As a hobby, she makes the embroidery on many of her friend’s clothes. She did all of her own and Taranza’s clothes and put the star and pocket on Meta Knight’s black T-shirt.
> 
> *Mark wears a whole thing of mismatched clothes, but still, somehow, makes it all look good. He does wear a shawl at all times (except for when he's going to bed) that keeps him warm but also restricts his arm movement. He also always wears a jester hat for some unknown reason, even when he's going to bed. He mainly wears the colors red, purple, blue, yellow, and some green (his hair is already pink, so he didn't need to hit that part of the rainbow) and all different shape patterns. Despite all of his fashion crimes, he sounds like such a fantastic guy, this Mark guy, I *really* can't wait to meet him!
> 
> I'll stop there with all the main characters (I think) of the arc out of the way. ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

**Author's Note:**

> If you're enjoying this, remember to leave a comment and some kudos! It helps me get into the writing mood!


End file.
